A New Purpose
by Shadowmane820
Summary: Jack Darby lives a normal life until he finds a certain two-wheeler sitting at the K.O Burger. This is the story of their journey. Sucky Summary I know but I think I did good with the book. Read and Review my children. Lol. Rated M just because i'm paranoid; if you ain't over 18, you no read without parents permission! I have my own OC in here as well.
1. Chapter 1

Ch. 1

Jackson "Jack" Darby was a normal kid as far as anyone was concerned. He went to a simple High School in Jasper, Nevada. He was in his schools' Army JROTC Program of which he was the battalion commander. He was a simple kid and even had a hobby most would consider slightly old-fashioned; he was a blacksmith and a master at using almost any type of blade.

His dad, Fred "Wolf" Darby was in the Special Forces; he was an ex Army Ranger turned government mercenary and had participated in some of the most secret and heavily guarded military black ops. He taught Jack everything he knew and practically molded him into a soldier as well. Jack had never minded this though, no one at school understood him, and his dad gave him a purpose and a trade to boot.

But that all changed for Jack; his father was killed in action in an arms factory explosion in Ukraine, just south of Pripyat. After his father's death, Jack became very reclusive; he hardly spoke with his mom and almost never went outside his home. Eventually, Jack began to talk to his mother again but very little. He was jogging home from school and made a quick stop at the K.O. Burger for a short break.

He was sitting on one of the benches outside polishing his personal Katana that he had forged himself, no one ever said anything because everyone knew Jack and his father and trusted them both. He was looking over the blade in his grip when a voice he knew spoke up."I swear Jack, you could spend entire day's polishing that sword; I'm surprised that thing hasn't been polished to perfection."

Jack looked up to see a friend he had made quite recently. Michael Grymm moved to Jasper during Jack's freshman year; they both were in ROTC together and had struck up a friendship when they were put in the same platoon. "Have you ever known me to be satisfied with the condition of my sword Michael?"

Jack smirked at the taller, but younger, boy as he sat down next to him. "Point taken; what are you doing out here anyways? I figured you'd be at your house working on some new sword." Jack smiled at Michael as he shook his head with silent laughter. Jack and Michael were both obsessed with the military and had applied for staff positions each year they were in ROTC; Jack started out as the S-1 for his battalion and Michael had served as the Alpha Company Commander.

During their senior year, Jack was named the Battalion Commander while Michael took up the title of Command Sergeant Major. Jack soon brought his attention back to the present and looked at Michael before speaking up in a casual tone. "Today's a P.T. day for me; you know me and my habits." Michael chuckled before speaking up. "Well, keep it up old friend; you might beat me in the pull up contest before the end of the year."

With that, Jack and Michael stood up before grabbing each other's forearms and pulling each other into a bro hug. Michael began to run down the road and Jack sat down once again as he looked at his sword. Jack was thinking back to the day he forged the ebony blade when he looked up and saw something that caught his eye with almost no resistance from Jack; a royal blue custom motorcycle with black trim and small specks of hot pink in smaller areas.

Jack stood up and sheathed his sword as he walked up to the blue two-wheeler. "Well, whoever put you together did an excellent job." Jack ran a single hand over the bike from the top of the gas tank to the back of the black leather seat. He slowly got on and got a feel for the handle bars. "There's some serious power in this girl." But before he could say more, two pairs of bright headlights shined on him. He looked over and saw two Dark purple muscle cars that looked, in a word, evil. This was confirmed as they revved their engines and sped right at him.

 _Earlier That Same Day:_

Arcee, the young cybertronian First Lieutenant of Team Prime had been speeding down the lonely high-way of Jasper as well as several back roads. After the speech Optimus had given and the short ceremony the team had for the loss of Cliffjumper, Arcee's partner and close friend, Arcee had decided she needed to be alone. She started to walk away when she heard Optimus call to her in that gentle, yet still reverent voice he carried.

She knew her leader, and surrogate father, was just worried about her; but she didn't want pity. "Optimus, sitting around isn't gonna bring Cliff back. So if it's good with you, I'd like to get back to protecting humanity." She didn't like sounding so dismissive to the team, but after today's events, she couldn't bring herself to care. So she left the base to drive around and attempt to find some peace.

She had been through the war that destroyed Cybertron and had seen death before, but to lose another partner like this brought up memories she had long kept buried in her technological subconscious. She drove for what felt like hours when she finally decided to drive into Jasper and stop off at one of the small lots in the town. She stopped at what seemed to be a sustenance center for the humans. She pulled into one of many empty parking spaces and decided to collect herself before returning to Optimus and the team."Take five Sadie." And with that, the holographic human driver dissipated from Arcee's back.

As large as Jasper was, Arcee could tell not much ever happened here, so she observed her surroundings to try and find something to take her mind off the days' events. She was thinking about the golden days of Cybertron when she looked to one of the benches outside the small building. She saw a human sitting with one leg resting on top of the bench he was sitting on. He was young from the look of it, but even so he was well developed for a human; but what really caught her eye was what he held in his hands; it was a type of sword that she had heard Bumblebee talk about when he did some studying of the humans. 'What was it Bee called it, a katana?' She thought to herself.

She brought her thoughts back to the human and further observed him. She could tell from the way he held the blade in his hands and how he continuously looked it over while polishing the blade that it had deep sentimental value to the young human. She was so engrossed in her thoughts and observations that she didn't realize that the human was staring right at her.

She sat there watching him as he stood up and began advancing towards her. She could tell he held no hostility in him so she let him approach her. When he reached her, he began observing her up-close. But when the human spoke; Arcee felt her spark freeze over with a strange combination of shock, fear, and hope. "Well, whoever put you together, he did an excellent job."

Arcee couldn't understand why she felt as if she was connected to this human. 'That voice; why does it sound so familiar?' She continued watching as he slowly let his hand glide down from the top of her gas tank to the back of her black leather seat, and was further surprised when he complimented her. "There's some serious power in this girl." Arcee was baffled that he was able to observe so many minute details as well as somehow knowing she was a femme.

She was thinking about whom this human was that was sitting on her seat when out of nowhere, two pairs of headlights shined out on the human. She adjusted her mirror to see who it was and cursed mentally when she saw they were Decepticons. She saw them driving right towards her and the human, so she said two words that would change her life forever. "Hold on!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ch. 2

Jack had seen a lot of things and had some surprising experiences, but when he heard the motorcycle he was sitting on tell him to hold on; he grabbed on to the handlebars knowing that it was his best chance to get away from those cars. The two-wheeler sped off into town making turns and twists down back roads and alleys; she let him off once she had put some distance between them and the two muscle cars and immediately spoke once more. "You never saw me. You tell anyone otherwise and I will hunt you down." And with that the motorcycle sped away, he turned down a separate alley way when he saw the two muscle cars advancing on him.

He ran hard not knowing what to make of these events and when he turned around, he saw one of the two purple cars had split off and was now pursuing him. "Damn!" Jack knew that he needed to run like hell or he was gonna wind up as a grease spot on the road. But when it comes to Jackson Darby, he never does what is truly logical. Jack turned around and drew his katana from the scabbard on his back. He waited as the speeding purple death machine got closer and closer to him; and just as the car was about to hit him, Jack's training kicked in.

He ran at the car and jumped onto the hood, up to the cars roof and jumped off landing from a front flip back to the ground. The driver of the car obviously didn't expect this as they continued to drive. Jack looked back to see that the car had stopped and was now moving back towards him. At this Jack ran towards the car again and this time he slid to the side while throwing a horizontal slash of his sword clean through the side of the car.

He continued to run as he looked back and saw that the bottom halves of the driver side doors were now on the ground. He sheathed his sword and ran out of the alley. "Looks like I'm in the clear." He said with a relieved sigh, but he then turned his head at the sound of a car engine. "Or maybe not!" He started running again knowing that at the speed the car was heading towards him, any attempt to try and jump over it would likely end with him having a sprained ankle, or worse a broken leg. Then out of another alley, the motorcycle drove up.

She didn't have to say anything and as soon as the sleek two-wheeler was close enough, he jumped onto the seat and put a strong grip on the handle bars. She continued to drive towards the large drainage ditch on the side of town and as she drove over the edge, she landed flawlessly on her wheels. Jack panted heavily as he felt adrenaline flowing through his veins like white water rapids. He was taking a few steady breaths to slow his heartbeat when he looked up to see a young boy sitting against the wall of the ditch playing with a small remote control car.

He recognized the young boy; his name was Rafael Esquives, a young boy of 14 years old who went to school with Jack. He was a small boy who loved computer work, but aside from that seemed rather solitary. He got up and walked up to Jack who was now off the motorcycle looking around. "Jack, what're you doing here?" Jack turned back to the young techy and gave him an urgent look. "Raf, you need to get out of here, there's something seriously wrong going on. Don't ask why, I'll tell you lat-"before Jack could finish, the sound car engines drew their attention to the purple cars that had been chasing Jack.

Suddenly, they both started to change into what appeared to be large robots. They were tall and had silver masks with red visors over their faces and they looked like they were itching for a fight. Jack was about to tell Raf to run for it, but he turned and saw the motorcycle he had just been on begin to change as well. Jack could tell from its feminine frame that it was definitely a female robot. She stood up to full height and when she made eye contact with Jack, he could feel the power emanating from her body. "Get to cover."She said it so calmly that Jack new she was undoubtedly pissed.

But regardless of this, he did what she said, more out of respect than fear that she might hurt him, but he did want to get Rafael somewhere safe. "Raf, follow me." Jack said it with enough urgency for Raf to follow and they both ran for a large drainage pipe that was opened up, it was big enough for them to hide in, but not large enough to be pursued by the robots fighting close behind them. They reached the large opening and Jack helped Raf inside. He was about to jump in himself when he turned around and saw that the blue motorcycle turned robot warrior was having some difficulties holding her own against the two larger bots.

He nearly turned back to the pipe when he saw her go flying onto her back with a loud crash. At that point, Jack felt something click in his mind and he suddenly found himself running full sprint towards one of the purple machines with his katana drawn. The two killer robots saw him and split up, Jack was going right at the one he had escaped in the alley and was now dodging blaster fire. 'Come on, show me a weak spot!' Jack circled the large machine for a few moments. 'There, behind the knee!'

Jack saw several cables behind the area where the large robots knee was, each time the bot moved, the cables would stretch and coil up on each other. 'They must work like tendons or muscles.' Jack ran full on at the bot and feigned to the left, coming up right behind the large robots' leg. Jack threw a clean diagonal slash at the exposed cables, effectively severing them with a crisp 'shink!' The bot suddenly dropped down on the injured knee as its arms came forward to prevent it from landing on its face.

Jack then ran to the front and through a strong horizontal slash at the elbow joint of the downed bots left arm. Jack, and the wounded robot, watched in astonishment as the blade cut through the steel in a shower of sparks. Jack could tell the large bot was horrified when it its arm fall limp and useless, Jack took the moment and climbed up to where he was right behind the head of the large living machine and with a ravenous war cry, Jack drove his sword down into the head of the robotic warrior. It gave a last out cry of pain and fell to the ground as the red light faded from its visor and a large puddle of blue liquid flowed out of the open wounds.

Arcee had seen many things in her long life, but when she looked over to the other Decepticon whom she had heard cry out as if in pain, her mouth dropped open in utter shock. The young human she had saved was standing on top of the now lifeless Decepticon with splattered energon on his chest and face and his sword in his left hand. The other Decepticon was just as surprised and so Arcee took the opportunity to put a few energon blasts in the Cons head.

As she got up to go see the human warrior and ensure he was unharmed, she heard two more vehicles moving towards her, she immediately turned around with her blasters primed and ready to fire, but she dropped them as soon as she saw who she was pointing them at. A Chevy Camaro SS with a golden paint job and black racing stripes and a large army green truck were driving towards her. When they reached her, they transformed into two bots she had come to see as family.

"Bumblebee, Bulkhead. I should've known Optimus would send you guys." She said it with a smile on her faceplate. She turned to Bulkhead as he began to speak. "Ratchet picked up Decepticon signatures heading towards you and Optimus sent us to make sure you were alright." Arcee was suddenly brought back to the situation she had just been in a few short seconds ago. "Bulk, Bee you are not gonna believe this." She said as she turned to see the young human she had fought beside was now staring right at her with the smaller, and obviously younger human standing right next to him. They began to walk up to the three transformers and when they reached them; Arcee couldn't help but compliment the young warrior despite her rough personality. "Thanks for taking care of that one for me."

Jack wasn't much for compliments but it was somewhat gratifying when the motorcycle turned robot ass-kicker (authors note: and you know its the truth!Lol.) gave him one. "He was already wounded and he underestimated a human. If there are more like those two, they won't make that mistake again, that I'm sure of." Jack was glad for the compliment, but he was still a modest individual and he knew when he had an advantage over someone he was fighting. Regardless, Jack couldn't help but ask questions. "What are you doing on Earth anyways?"

Jack was surprised to say the least that these machines were here and wanted some answers, so he was happy when the motorcycle-bot answered him. "Come with us, you need to meet our commander." Jack new this was going to be a long evening but when the three bots transformed back into vehicle form, he couldn't resist getting on the sleek two-wheeler. They were about to drive off when suddenly they heard a small cry of what sounded like surprise come from behind them.

Jack turned around and saw none other than the heavy metal loving trouble maker of Jasper High School. Miko Nakadi was a foreign exchange 15 year old student from Japan who surprisingly spoke English very well. She loved playing guitar and rocking out to her favorite bands. But what Jack couldn't figure out is how she had managed to avoid the notice of both him and the large robots he was with.

She came running up to Jack and started shooting questions at him at 100 miles an hour. "JACK! THAT WAS SO AWESOME, YOU CUT THAT BOT APART LIKE A FRICKING SAMURAI! CAN I COME WITH!? PLEEEEEEEEEASE!?" Jack was about to staple her mouth shut but the door on the bot dubbed Bulkhead popped open as he spoke up. "Hop in kid, you're in this too now that you've seen us." Jack was surprised to say the least when he realized Bulkhead had a neutral tone with what sounded like a bit of interest in it as well. So Miko hopped into Bulkheads cab and with that; Jack, Rafael, and now Miko were on their way out to the desert to meet the commander of these alien robotic warriors.

There's chapter 2. Hope everyone enjoyed it; start hittin' that Review button. I'll get the next chapter up as quick as I can. ROLL OUT MY FELLOW AUTOBOTS! Lol. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

Jack had been wondering where exactly Arcee and her allies were taking him, Rafael, and Miko and when they would arrive at the place for a while now as they had been driving out in the desert for a good 10 minutes now. He was about to ask Arcee when they would be arriving when he looked ahead and saw that they were heading for one of the large rocky ridges on the outskirts of Jasper. Jack didn't say anything as they approached the large red clay and granite cliffs.

He watched as a door opened as they approached a perfectly flat wall like area of the cliffs and drove into a tunnel. They drove down the tunnel and reached a large open room with overhead cross-walks and a strange mechanical construct on one wall that was in the shape of a large circle leading into the granite wall. Jack got off Arcee as she transformed and he surprised himself when, rather than standing by Raf and Miko, he stayed right beside Arcee as she walked up to another large robot.

This bot had a red and white paint job with some red zigzags on the plating on his arms. Jack knew he was a medic when he saw the Red Cross on the large bots upper arm. Jack prepared himself knowing that, considering his mom was a nurse, an uninformed medic could have a very fierce temper. There had been times where Jack had seen his mother's wrath come down on his father a few times. "Arcee, what is going on? And why are there humans with you!?"

Jack didn't mind the angry medics' words and just let Arcee handle it. "There was a Decepticon attack. Jack here was close by and the Cons must have thought that he was working with us, as for the other two humans, that's a longer story." Jack couldn't help but notice that she only gave his name and not Miko or Rafael's names. 'She must have missed their names back in the drainage ditch.' The medic would have said more, but suddenly, another bot entered the room and everyone looked straight at him.

Jack was amazed and a bit awestruck; this new bot had to be at least 60 feet tall. He had a red and blue paint job and when he spoke, it was a deep baritone voice that spoke volumes about his character, and age. "Ratchet, calm yourself. Arcee, Bulkhead, and Bumblebee were merely doing what was best for the safety of these humans."

The large bot that Jack assumed was the leader of this team was very calm and very reverent as he spoke to the clearly agitated medic. "Optimus, I know where this is going to lead. We can't just let them roam around the base, I mean look at them." Ratchet waved a hand towards the three humans he was referring to. "They have no protective shell. If they go underfoot, they will go…Squish!" Ratchet tapped his enormous ped to get the emphasis across.

But Optimus remained calm during his medics rant and spoke plainly after words. "Then in the mean time old friend, we will have to watch where we step." While this was all happening, Jack had made his way up to one of the catwalks to make some silent observations on the large area he and the others had been taken to.

Jack looked up to see what looked like a large concrete slab at the top of a large shaft, along the sides of the shaft were catwalks and doors with black and yellow symbols on them. 'A missile silo; it must have been decommissioned so they could use this place as a base of operations.' Jack looked back to see that the large bot dubbed Optimus was now standing in front of him. "Greetings young ones, rest assured that no harm will come to you while you are here."

The simple greeting from Optimus removed a great deal of tension from the situation for the children, and with this Jack introduced the group. "Allow me to introduce my friends." Jack then looked over at Raf and Miko as he addressed them. "Rafael Esquives is the youngest of us, but he's one of the best computer techs that I've ever met. Miko goes to school with Raf and I; she's a foreign exchange student from Japan but she's taken to American rock music pretty well; fair warning Ratchet, she likes to play extremely loud music on her guitar." Ratchet suddenly looked straight up from his work with wide eyes; Jack could practically see the terror in them. 'Hehehehe, things are bound to get very interesting between him and Miko.'

Jack had looked back to Optimus, but he could feel a pair of cobalt blue eyes on him the whole time Optimus had been speaking. 'Why does she keep staring at me like that?' Jack knew that it was Arcee that was staring at him, but he couldn't figure out what it was about him that had her in such a state. However, Jack shook this from his mind and continued to introduce himself. "As for me, my name is Jack Darby." Once Jack had finished his introductions, he felt everyone pause for a moment at the mention of his name.

Jack suddenly felt a sense of unease come over him. 'Do these guys know me?' Optimus suddenly spoke up once more, effectively pulling everyone out of their moments of pause. "My name is Optimus Prime; we are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron." At this point, Jack knew these robots meant them no harm when he suddenly heard Ratchet speak up. "But you can call us Autobots for short." Ratchet spoke with a tone that was a strange combination of neutrality and what sounded like pride. 'How can someone put two emotions that contradict each other like that together?' Jack however cleared the thought from his head and kept his attention to where Optimus was directing his introductions.

Jack followed the eyes of the Prime and soon found himself once again looking at Arcee. "My First Lieutenant and current Second in Command, Arcee." Jack gave her a small nod as to give recognition, which she returned with what Jack felt seemed like some degree of respect. 'Okay, something is definitely up.'

Jack felt as if these bots knew him; but before he could press the matter, Optimus then continued his introductions. "My weapons specialist, Bulkhead." The large green autobots spoke up at this. "What's up little man?" He capitalized this with a simple smile. Optimus then looked back at the medic of the group. "Our medical officer, Ratchet." Jack gave what amounted to a highly respectful nod before speaking to the large medic bot. "My mom's a medic herself. Good to meet you Ratchet."

Ratchet looked over at Jack just briefly and then returned to his work on what appeared to be a large computer-like machine as Optimus finished up with one final introduction. "And finally our scout, Bumblebee." With that said; the slim, but still quite tall, Autobot spoke up. _"Good to meet you guys."_ To most of the individuals present, Bumblebee's words were understood perfectly, but Miko was the only one that heard a combination of beeps and clicks that seemed unintelligible. "How do you know what he's saying?"

Jack couldn't help but snicker at the sight of Miko practically bouncing with annoyance at being the only one who couldn't understand Bee. "It's a lot like deciphering Morse code." Jack tried to explain to Miko and looked down to find Rafael smiling at him. "You must've read my mind Jack, that's exactly what I was about to say." Jack was suddenly happy, and thankful, for all those days his dad made him study Morse code on days he went with his dad to work.

Suddenly, what seemed to be an elevator opened up and out walked a dark skinned man in a blue suite with a white, button-up undershirt and a tie. He started talking to Prime in a very agitated voice. "Seven traffic jams, three fender-benders, and multiple reports of what are reported as: a dark blue motorcycle, a custom yellow muscle car, and a green 4x4 truck. There something you wanna get off your' chest Prime?" Jack could already tell this guy was former military by his quick temper and the way he acted.

That thought, however, quickly lost its place in Jack's mind when Optimus spoke up. "Agent Fowler, we had reason to believe a threat was present that may have endangered the lives of the humans in the town." This seemed to hit a nerve with Fowler as his mood changed from agitated to somewhat concerned. "They're back aren't they?" Fowler said to the Prime in a knowing voice that was confirmed by the large Cybertronian. "If you are referring to the Decepticons, I have my doubts that they ever left." With this, Fowler changed his mood to a take charge, running gun kind of mind set. "Then it's time to wake up the Pentagon. The Cons won't be catching us with our pants down in this."

Jack could tell that Optimus was worried about the agents' words; Jack suddenly spoke up, startling everyone. "Agent Fowler, involving the military in this will only put others at risk, I think it best to let Optimus handle this and wait on involving any more humans. At least until there's no other option." The Agent had seen the kids when he first entered but when he heard Jack speak up the way he did, he felt as if he were getting another lecture from Prime, so to try and get some answers, he decided to try and learn some things about this boy on the spot. "And may I ask who you are young man?"

Jack was a little aggravated at the way he was being treated like a child again, but kept a calm head and answered the Agent. "Cadet Lieutenant Colonel Jackson Darby; Jasper High School Battalion, Army JROTC sir." Jack couldn't help but throw in his position as his schools battalion commander into the mix, but something obviously struck with Fowler as his face became somewhat startled. "Darby, are you related to Fred Darby?" Jack was suddenly very interested that the CIA agent knew his deceased father, but then again, he was a Ranger. "Yes, I'm his son."

At this point, everyone in the room looked straight at Jack with wide eyes. "Why do I get the feeling that my dad was involved in all of this?" At that, Optimus spoke up. "Fredrick Darby was the only other human besides Agent Fowler who worked with our team. He worked closely with our recently deceased comrade, Cliffjumper, as well as working with Arcee on a number of occasions." Jack was shocked to know his father had worked with the Autobots and as he looked around at the team, he noticed Arcee had a far off look in her eyes, but she was staring straight at him. "Jack, your' dad and I were in the same Ranger regiment at Fort Benning. He was a great friend and an incredible soldier. He…"

At that point, everyone looked away from Jack with a pained expression in their eyes. Jack suddenly put the puzzle pieces together. "My dad didn't die from that factory explosion, did he?" At that point, you could hear a pin drop anywhere in that base. No one said anything for a few moments as they gave Jack a moment to process this new piece of knowledge. "Sitting around moaning isn't gonna bring my dad back."

Even Optimus couldn't hide the shock at what Jack said, but the young human spoke up once again before anyone could comment. "He's dead, but he died fighting for what he believed in. So I'm proud to call myself his son." The words showed everyone present a new side of Jack. Optimus and Ratchet couldn't help but smile at this as everyone else was completely amazed at what was just said.

Jack suddenly looked over his shoulder at the blade on his back and his eyes went wide. Jack quickly pulled out the black katana and looked it over as if trying to find an answer to some unknown question there. Then, as though things couldn't get any crazier, Ratchet spoke up. "Where did you get that blade?" Jack's thoughts were then confirmed as he answered the medical officer of the team. "I made it myself, my dad had an old blacksmith forge on our property and he taught me how to smith my own weapons."

Ratchet came over and raised his arm up as a green light fell over Jack, as it covered the blade, sensors started going off and Ratchet's eyes went wide. "By the Allspark, this blade is made from cybertronian metal!" With this, Optimus spoke up. "I can explain the reason for this Ratchet, the metal which was used to create this blade was taken from the bodies of fallen Decepticons." Ratchet was obviously dumbfounded at this discovery, when Arcee suddenly spoke up. "I understand that part Optimus, Cliff told me that Fred would take shards of metal off dead con's when they ran into them. I guess he must have melted the metal down to make his sword."

Jack spoke up at this with a slightly authoritative voice that he had obtained as the leader of a JROTC battalion. "My dad had a pretty good sized stock pile of the steel at my house, he never told me and mom where he really got it, but he used a lot of the stuff." Fowler suddenly began making phone calls as he left the base, leaving everyone in a state of confusion at his sudden exit from the building. Soon the three young humans turned back to Optimus who in turn began to speak. "All this aside; until things are more clear to be understood, each of you will go home for now with one of my team as your' guardians."

Jack figured Miko would be the first to lay claim to one of the Autobots, but surprisingly, Raf was the first to speak up. "I'll go with Bee, since me and Jack are the only ones who understand Morse code and can understand what Bee's saying." Miko seemed happy at this and walked up to Bulkhead and leaned against the large bots leg. "I'm with Bulk; Looks like you're with Arcee for the night Jack." Jack looked back at Arcee who was looking at Jack with a neutral look on her face. Jack was about to say something when suddenly, Arcee spoke up in a somewhat peaceful tone. "It'd be nice to see how a human lives."

Arcee then transformed into her sleek two-wheeler form and spoke up once more. "Hop on Jack, lets' head out." With that Jack got on Arcee and the three humans left with their Autobot guardians. Ratchet looked up from his work and over to his leader and oldest friend. "You knew he was Fred's son didn't you Optimus?" Optimus didn't miss the smile on Ratchets' face when the old medic spoke and in turn gave a smile with his own response. "Jack is much like his father; he has 'Wolfs" bearing as well as his skill in battle if the looks coming from Arcee were any indication." With this, Optimus went up to his usual spot on the roof and Ratchet continued with his work.

YEAH BABY! CHAPTER 3 UP AND OPERATIONAL! I'M ON FIRE! Lol. Okay, ranting aside I am glad i'm getting things running so quickly; it gives me something to occupy my time. Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. Review, comment and so on. ROLL OUT MY FELLOW AUTOBOTS! Lol. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

Arcee was rather silent as she drove to Jacks home; she had so much on her mind right now that she didn't know what to make of it all. 'To think I worked with 'Wolf' for almost 4 years and now I'm probably gonna have his son as a human charge. Primus could today get any more surprising?' Arcee let herself look Jack over with her mirrors.

Jack was very similar to 'Wolf' as far as skin tone, eye and hair color; but Jack had a slimmer more defined body, where as 'Wolf' had been nothing short of a 6 ft. 7 in. mound of walking muscle. But strangely enough, Arcee felt as if there was more to Jack then what she could see on the outside. When they reached the city limits, Arcee heard Jack clear his throat to start speaking. "Arcee, my mom is liable to ask questions about me bringing home a motorcycle so just let me handle it alright?"

Arcee understood the need to keep her identity quiet from Jacks mom. Fred may have known about the Autobots, but it was still a Government secret, a secret that Jacks' mother was not informed of. She pulled into the garage which was still empty. So ensuring no one was around, Arcee transformed inside the garage appearing in a kneeling position in front of Jack, she stared at him for a moment with a hint of concern since Jack got off, and he had yet to face her.

She was going to say something when he turned around and spoke. "Arcee…" He paused for a moment and for the life of her, Arcee couldn't wonder what Jack would say, but was somewhat relieved when he continued. "I'm sorry about your' partner. He sounded like one hell of a bot." Arcee would normally have gone off on someone who said that to her, no other human knew Cliffjumper and it drove her insane when someone tried to relate to her pains.

But Jack was different, he had lost someone far more important in his life; his own father, the man who raised, trained, and molded Jack into what he is. So she spoke up in a simple and quite gentle way. "its fine, I'm sorry about your' father." Jack gave her a simple smile that showed he understood the pain she was going through. Arcee continued to hold his stare for a few seconds before they heard a car approaching.

Jack ran out after announcing his mom was pulling in and Arcee quickly reverted back into her vehicle mode and listened to Jack attempt to reason with his mother. "Mom, before you say anything, I can explain." "Can you now?" Arcee could swear she was hearing a female version of Ratchet and internally snickered at the thought. But when June walked into the garage to take a look at the motorcycle Jack had mysteriously brought home, Arcee kept completely still and continued to listen to the conversation. "You know I worry about you driving. And now you bring home a motorcycle? How did you even afford this?" "It's used, well to be honest, it's abused. It needs a ton of work, but mom its fine."

Arcee watched as Jack walked over to a small work table and put his hand on a motorcycle helmet sitting on the top of it. "I may have been messing around when I bought this, but I can't ride a ten speed forever. And besides, she's perfectly safe." Both Arcee and Jack suddenly froze as soon as they realized what he said. He had said she and not it.

But they both let out a silent sigh of relief when June failed to realize what he meant and continued in a rather comical type of tone. "Her, I didn't think you would be bringing a girl home so soon." Arcee couldn't help but smile at the small joke and was actually happy when Jack spoke up again. "Actually, I like to think that she brought me home." Arcee couldn't believe what she was witnessing, not only was Jack working things out with his mother, but he was basically saying that he trusted his new motorcycle to keep him safe on the road and beyond. "I'll trust you on this Jack, only because you haven't given me any real reason to do otherwise. And maybe you'll give me a ride sometime too, Right?"

Arcee suddenly had her eyes glued to Jack waiting for his response. "We'll see; she can be a little… temperamental." If Arcee were in her robot form, she would have had a wide eyed, open mouthed face of shock. Jack had just called her temperamental. "That little…" Suddenly, Arcee couldn't help but giggle somewhat at how Jack handled the situation. She decided to power down with one final thought of her human charge. "Just like 'Wolf'."

 _Unknown location later that night:_

 _Jack was walking through a large corridor made entirely of metal, he was clueless as to where he was and couldn't seem to make himself move. He looked around to try and make sense of where he was when a door behind him opened and he suddenly, and strangely involuntarily, looked back. He looked up at the large robot before him._

 _The bot had dark grey armor plating and broad spiked shoulders; he had serrated metal teeth and glowing red eyes; but perhaps the most interesting feature on him was the symbol on his chest. It was purple and had sharp eyes with a spiked head-piece. Jack looked into the eyes of the large bot who in turn spoke to him. "Follow me." Jack didn't want to go with the large bot but once again, it seemed that Jack wasn't in command of his body, or his voice. He heard a strange voice that seemed to come from him. "Yes Lord Megatron."_

 _Jack suddenly realized that he wasn't having a normal dream, he was likely seeing something like a memory or a vision through the eyes of one of the Decepticons. Jack realized that the bot named Megatron was likely the leader of the Decepticons that Optimus spoke of at base. Jack watched as he followed Megatron down the large corridor they were in as they soon reached what appeared to be a large door._

 _The large barrier opened up and both he and Megatron walked inside. Jack continued to look around until he heard Megatron speak to someone else. "It would seem that you have a higher pain threshold then I would have expected from a human. But I am a very patient individual, so I will find some other human to find out where the Autobot base is."_

 _Jack was wondering what Megatron meant by that when he suddenly heard a voice that made his blood run ice cold. "Don't count in it frag-face." Jack suddenly moved to Megatrons' side and was met with the sight of Fred Darby hanging in chains in front of him. Jack tried to say something, to shout out to his dad, anything to make his father aware of his presence. When suddenly Megatrons' large finger went across the elder Darby's' neck at a frightening speed. Jack could do nothing but watch as his father's blood began to run down his neck._

Jack bolted up with his father's combat knife in clutched in his hand, in front of him. He looked around to find he was back in his bedroom and was sweating rather profusely. "Could it have really been him?" Jack asked himself as he put the knife in his hand back into its sheath. He looked at the clock on his bedside dresser; it read 5:37 a.m. so Jack knew his mom was still sleeping.

Jack got out of bed and took some clothes from his dresser so he could take a shower to help him calm down from his nightmare plagued sleep. After relieving his pent up stress with a long, hot shower; Jack wrote a note which he left on the kitchen counter for his mom and then proceeded to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator. He opened the garage forgetting that Arcee had spent the night, so Jack was very thankful for the fact that his garage opened rather quietly. Jack looked briefly at the blue motorcycle before running out of the garage with his katana resting in its usual position on his back.

Arcee was sleeping when she thought she heard something, she figured it was nothing and so paid it no heed, but when she heard the garage door behind her opening she adjusted her mirrors to see what was coming in. However, to her surprise, she saw Jack already walking down the driveway and out towards the road, she was wondering what he was doing up so early but understood immediately when he took off at a brisk jog.

Arcee understood that some humans got up early to do certain morning rituals like this. She thought of going back to sleep, knowing that Jack could handle himself in the town, but she suddenly became curious and decided to follow him. Arcee followed from a distance and watched as Jack jogged through town towards what appeared to be the town cemetery.

Arcee drove up to the front gate that Jack had went through just in time to see him stop in front of a black granite tombstone. 'Please tell me that grave isn't who I think it is.' Arcee was praying to Primus that Jack wasn't here seeing his father's grave, but her fears were confirmed when she saw the ever pained look on Jacks face and then she was suddenly a bit unnerved when she saw Jacks face fill with what she new to be a silent but vicious rage.

She was about to rev her engines when she heard Jack speak up, "I'm gonna find him dad, I'm gonna make him pay for what he did." Arcee went deathly quiet for a few seconds as she heard Jack make this dark promise over his father's grave. She waited for a good few minutes and then revved her engine. Jack looked up and saw her, he took a final glance at his father's headstone and then walked over to Arcee, she was about to speak but Jack beat her to the punch. "What are you doing here Arcee?"

Jack hadn't seen her follow him so she decided, 'What he doesn't know won't hurt him I guess.' She chose her words carefully and spoke in a layback tone. "I woke up and found the garage door open, your' energy signature was all over the area so I decided to follow it and see where you were." Arcee knew Jack was probably in a rough mood and so she decided to try and calm him down a bit. "It's still early; you wanna go for an early morning drive or something?"

Jack suddenly seemed to change gears and seemed to be thinking for a second before he answered her. "Sure, there's a place I'd like to go, so let me drive; alright?" Arcee was somewhat surprised that Jack had asked her to let him drive, if it had been any other human, she probably would have said no, but Arcee felt that she could trust Jack, so she conceded and let him drive. They drove for a good ten minutes and Arcee soon found herself going up a rugged, heavily worn mountain trail that was going up to the top of the mountain they were driving up.

They reached a small clearing and Jack hopped off and started walking over to the rocky cliff that overlooked all of Jasper. Arcee knew it was too early for anyone to be up here and she could tell that the road she and Jack traveled was rarely used, so she transformed and slowly walked over to where Jack was standing, the sun was just beginning to rise over the rocky mountains on the horizon and was shining down on Jasper in a way that made everything seem clear and free. Arcee looked down at Jack who was simply staring out at everything in sight, Arcee was happy to see that rather than a pained face or anger in Jacks' eyes; she saw what appeared to be peace and contentment.

'Primus, he's not just like his dad, but like Optimus too? What other surprises does Jack have in store I wonder?' Jack said nothing so Arcee decided to indulge in Jacks' pass time as well and look down at the red sand plains of Nevada. She suddenly saw Jack go over to what appeared to be some sort of large group of bushes growing out of the fertile mountain soil. She walked over and decided to ask a few questions about this place. "What is this place Jack?"

Jack suddenly looked up from the small group of bushes and smiled at her before looking back out towards the rising sun when he spoke. "My dad used to take me and mom up here when I was younger. He used to go with mom and pick Blackberries from the bushes around the mountain and we would sit up here and eat them 'til we almost exploded." Jack looked back at the group of bushes and Arcee suddenly began to put the puzzle pieces together, she was about to speak up when Jack continued.

"Mom and I planted these Blackberry bushes up here after dad died. I come up here and it helps me find my peace." She understood how this felt; Optimus and the team had done something similar for Cliffjumper at the top of the base by putting a small burial marker in place. Arcee suddenly felt a deep connection with Jack; they had both lost someone they deeply cared about. 'Come to think of it, Jack actually kind of reminds me of Cliff.' She could see how Jack was much like Cliffjumper in that they were both a bit closed off until they found someone they trusted or could relate to.

They also seemed to have a way of befriending whoever crossed their paths. She suddenly couldn't help but feel greatly protective of Jack and so she decided to try and find out what was troubling him. "Jack, what made you go out to the graveyard?" Jack looked up at her with what appeared to be a bit of surprise in his face but Arcee didn't stop. "Jack, I can tell something's got you really worked up right now. Did something happen last night?"

She could see that Jack was evaluating whether or not he could trust her right now or not, but he soon spoke up in a gentle, albeit somewhat troubled tone. "I had a nightmare last night, only it felt like I was seeing a memory through someone else's eyes." Arcee could guess that it had to do with Jack's father, considering he went to Fred's grave, so she decided to try and figure out what kind of dream it was that was torturing Jack. "What happened?"

Arcee couldn't help the worried tone she heard in her voice, she was genuinely worried about Jack right now and wanted to help. "I was in this giant metal hallway; I turned around and saw this huge bot coming out of some sort of metal door. He told me to follow him and I heard myself say 'Yes Lord Megatron.'" Arcee felt a sudden sense of dread growing in her spark chamber as Jack continued. "So I followed Megatron down the hall to this big door, Megatron opens it and we both step inside, that's when Megatron started talking to someone and when I saw who it was… it…"

Arcee was almost shaking with a mix of anger, pain, and sadness; she could feel where this was leading but she wanted to stay strong, to be able to help Jack, so she spoke up to try and get him to admit what she was to be the answer to her next question. "Who was it Jack?" Jack was looking down now and Arcee could see tears going down Jacks face. She was about to say that he didn't have to tell her, but then the fears that had been growing since she saw him in the graveyard were suddenly confirmed. "It was my dad…"

Arcee looked away now with here optics squeezed shut in anger. She had half a mind to go out and hunt down Megatrons' ship herself, but that thought was interrupted when Jack continued. "Megatron was trying to get my dad to tell him where the Autobot base was, but he wouldn't tell him and…" Arcee tried to speak, but she couldn't. "Megatron slit his throat and walked out grinning…" Arcee didn't know what to think; but before she realized that she had moved, she was kneeling on one knee with a hand on Jacks' shoulder.

Jack didn't make any move to do anything with the offered hand, in fact, it somewhat unnerved Arcee that Jack didn't make any movements what so ever. He just stood there with tears going down his face, Arcee was about to ask if he was okay when Jack said something that caught her completely off guard. "How do I find Megatron…?" Arcee could practically feel the venom dripping from Jacks' voice and she knew what it meant; Jack was, as humans put it, 'out for blood.' Megatron had taken away something that meant a great deal to Jack and now the Decepticon war lord had a new, and quite possibly, deadly enemy in Jackson Darby.

Suddenly Arcee knew that she had to keep Jack rational, despite her own hatred for Megatron. "Jack, Megatron's a completely different level from that Vehicon you took down; he's ruthless, unpredictable, and…" Jack suddenly looked up at her for the first time in several minutes. "Arcee, I understand that. But do you really think that's gonna stop me from going after him?"

Arcee knew Jack was telling the truth, she had felt the same way over the one who killed her first partner and still hated the demented bot with a passion. "Megatrons' ship is always on the move, either in the upper atmosphere or somewhere on earth. You don't find Megatron, you find his lackeys." Jacks' mood suddenly changed rather drastically and rather than rage, which she had been expecting, Arcee suddenly saw a combination of disappointment and understanding on Jacks' face. "You're right. Besides, I don't even know anything about him so I wouldn't know how to fight him anyways."

Arcee was surprised that Jack was back to his level headed ways and so she spoke up to try and lighten up the mood. "Why don't we go up to base, see if Optimus or Ratchet needs any help?" Jack looked up at Arcee with a smile that told her he was glad to be able to help with the Autobots. 'Primus he has a nice smile.'

Arcee thought to herself and then transformed when she realized what she had thought. 'Where did that come from?' Arcee thought to herself, she hadn't realized she was staring at Jack again, even in her motorcycle form. "Hey Arcee, you okay?" Jack said in a nonchalant way, it was enough to snap Arcee out of her staring and she finally started up her engine and then she and Jack were on their way back to base.

Chapter 4 up and operational! YAAAAY! Anywho, read, review, comment; you know the drift. Hope everyones enjoying the story so far. I've also got plans for both Jack and his buddy Michael. Airachnid will also get a bit more involved in the story later on but that's all i'm gonna say for now. Until then, ROLL OUT MY FELLOW AUTOBOTS, OR DECEPTICONS! Lol.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey my fellow Autobots and Decepticons. Before I start this chapter, I wanted to say something real quick: I saw in one of my reviews a worry that I might just copy the entire first season into this fanfic. I would like to bring some peace and tell you all that I am only gonna hit some of the big moments involving Jack, Arcee, the Autobots as a team, and Airachnid just for the scrap of it. Lol. JK on Airachnid; I have something special in store for her. ;) Anyways, just given everyone some peace of mind. Anywho, onwards to Chapter Five! XD

Ch. 5

Jack was now walking alongside Arcee out in the woods somewhere in the middle of Oregon. Jack, Miko and Rafael have been working with the Autobots for a few months now. When Jack and Arcee had entered the base on a Saturday, Ratchet had told Arcee that there was an energon signature in the northwestern area of the country and so he had sent Arcee to check it out. Just as she was about to go through the ground bridge, she turned to Jack and spoke up. "You coming Jack?"

Jack was happy that Arcee wanted him to come along and so he grabbed his Katana and his survival pack when he heard Ratchet speak up. "Jack, take this," Ratchet handed Jack a small ear piece that slipped over his ear like any head piece one would have with a phone. "This will allow you to stay in contact with Arcee should you get separated and it will also give you a link to us here at base."

With that Jack put the communicator over his ear and ran through the bridge with Arcee. Jack was slightly agitated by the large mosquitoes that were constantly biting him, he tried waving away a mosquito that was buzzing around his head and in doing so attracted Arcee's attention. "Quite the outdoorsmen aren't you Jack?" Jack looked up with a smirk before replying to the femme. "You wouldn't be making fun of my survival kit."

She gave him a small snicker before answering. "Maybe." Jack suddenly pulled out his Katana and gave it a flourish before continuing. "I might not have stinger-proof metal skin, but if any cons are in the area… well, you've seen what I can do with a sword." Jack slid his blade back into the scabbard on his back with a satisfying 'shink' and continued walking along Arcee. "You have your' tools, I have mine."

With that said Arcee looked down at the sensor in her hand. "Strange, Ratchet's scans were accurate; but subterranean energon deposits don't cause this kind of signal." With that Jack looked up and froze where he stood. "Arcee; ahead of us." Arcee looked up from the sensor to what was ahead of her and she too froze where her peds were. Ahead of them was a large crater with drag marks that were all moving in one direction.

Arcee readied her blasters and Jack drew his Katana; Jack ran forward, before Arcee could object, and hid behind one of the trees near the crater and peeked around to see what was ahead. He saw a large ship that likely belonged to a Cybertronian; Jack proceeded to turn on the com-link he had been given by Ratchet. "Arcee, I got a visual. We got a crashed ship, can't tell if it's Autobot or Decepticon though." "Stay put, I'm heading towards you."

Arcee had a battle hardened edge in her voice. 'God I love that voice.' Jack suddenly caught himself and bereted himself for thinking that in a possible fight situation. 'Eyes on the target Darby!' Jack thought to himself and turned just in time to see Arcee reach a tree directly ahead of him. He saw her look at the ship for a moment, most likely trying to find any identifying mark on the hull that would tell if the owner of the ship was friend or foe. "Autobot or Decepticon?" Jack asked Arcee through the com-link. "Can't tell, stay here and watch your' six."

Jack knew that Arcee could handle herself if it came down to a fight, but he couldn't help but feel as if something was wrong with the situation unfolding. "Arcee, something feels wrong here." Jack could see that Arcee had just entered the ship but was still able to hear through the open coms. "What do you mean Jack?" Jack couldn't help but feel like he had a target on the back of his head. "I can't it explain it Arcee, but… I feel like… we're being watched."

Jack waited for Arcee to reply in some way, most likely in a way that was along the lines of him being paranoid or that it's likely nothing, but Jack heard nothing but silence through the com-link. "Arcee?" Jack waited for a few seconds, nothing. "Arcee come in, what's happening in there?" Jack was about to try again when he saw Arcee run out of the ship and lean against the side, a look of horror on her face plates.

Jack immediately ran towards Arcee knowing something had her seriously freaked out. Jack reached Arcee's side in just a few seconds but even as he approached, Arcee looked straight ahead of her with a glazed look in her optics. "Arcee, what's wrong?" Jack said in a more urgent tone, but still Arcee didn't look to him. Finally, Jack put some volume into his next burst. "Arcee!" Jack was relieved when Arcee seemed to snap out of her fit and finally looked at him. "Arcee, what's wrong?"

Arcee suddenly closed her optics and looked down at the ground. "I know who this ship belongs to…" Arcee said in a foreboding tone that made Jack wonder just what they had gotten themselves into. "Arcee to base, Ratchet? I need a ground bridge." Arcee said it in a calm voice but Jack could hear the slight tinge of what might have amounted to fear hidden in her voice. "Scrap, I'm just getting static. The ship must be emitting a high frequency scrambler pulse."

Jack was suddenly very worried, whoever owned this ship obviously had Arcee scared and distracted. "Arcee, what's wrong, who owns this ship?" Jack put a good deal of urgency into his voice, but Arcee was looking around ignoring him completely. "Jack, wait here." Arcee had completely ignored Jack's question and started walking through the woods, scanning the tree line for something…or possibly someone.

Jack slowly followed up behind Arcee, letting her take point as she searched for what Jack was assuming was the owner of the crashed ship. Arcee suddenly stopped again and was looking down at something. Jack walked up slowly to see she was staring ahead of her again in some sort of trance. On the ground about 15 yards away from where they stood was a tree stump with a bright green liquid on it, Jack walked up to the stump and took a stick from the ground to poke at the slightly glowing ooze.

To his shock and bewilderment, the liquid was greatly acidic in that it burned the stick down to the stump, nearly burning Jack in the process had he not dropped the stick. Jack walked back to Arcee who was still in her trance and tried once more to shake her from what Jack was beginning to assume was a flashback of something that had a deeply painful impact on her life. "Arcee!" Jack said with force, knowing that being quiet wasn't going to get her attention.

Once again, Arcee snapped out of her flashback and looked down at Jack with a growing sense of fear and what seemed like anger in her optics. She suddenly transformed and revved her engine. "Jack, get on." She said it in a commanding way and so Jack got on and held on tight to her handle bars. She sped through the forest a good ways, and soon jumped over a deep ditch and stopped at its edge.

Jack got off and Arcee once again transformed and placed her hand by her head where her com-link was set. "Arcee to base; Ratchet, come in." Arcee was once again met with static and was growing more aggravated by the moment. "Scrap, still no signal, the pulse must disrupt any long range communications!" Jack himself was getting aggravated at being ignored now and was still trying to figure out what was going on. "Arcee, will you please tell me just what the hell is going on?"

Jack couldn't help the irritation that showed up in his voice, but he was getting tired of being ignored. But Arcee once again ignored her human charge and once again sped off in search of the missing bot. Jack normally would have just stayed put, but he wasn't going to let Arcee handle this by herself in the state that she was in. 'If she freezes up when she meets this bot, then she might meet her end.' With this in mind, jack took out his homemade hand axes.

Each axe was as long as Jacks' forearm and had a serrated spike behind the blade and the blade itself extended out much like a Tomahawk. With both axes in hand, Jack ran to the edge of the ditch and jumped as far as he could towards the other side, he hit the side of the ditch with a hard thud, and the spikes of his axes embedded into the dirt about ten feet below the ledge of the ditch. With that, Jack caught his breath and climbed to the top to pursue his partner.

Arcee walked through the woods quietly with her wrist blasters primed and ready for what she feared was somewhere in these woods. She walked for a good 7 minutes when she saw ahead of her, a small tent occupied by a family of humans. She ducked behind a large tree and watched the area around the began to calm down around the 4 minute mark of watching the tent when suddenly, she saw the one bot she had hoped to not run into out here.

The bot in question had black armor plating with a pale white face plate, bright purple optics, and black face markings. Arcee then saw the bot change her form so that she walked on six legs that appeared rather insect like in nature, the bug bot began moving towards the tent and so Arcee attacked, tackling the bot into a dried up river bed where they both regained their bearings. The strange bot was the first to speak. "Arcee, small universe!" She said with a hint of amusement and what sounded like glee in her voice.

Arcee suddenly spoke up with her blasters primed and aimed at the femme before her. "Too small Airachnid." Arcee said with a great deal of anger in her voice. "You still up in arms about the past? The war ended megacycles ago, I have a new hobby now." Arcee suddenly remembered walking into the crashed ship. The walls lined with severed heads of species that were hunted by the psychotic spider-bot. "I got a look at your souvenir case…"The disgust in Arcee's voice was highly evident and only strengthened the joy Airachnid was feeling. "You mean my trophies? I hunt endangered species; well they're not really endangered until they meet me."

Arcee was practically shaking with rage at her arch-nemesis who now stood across from her as the sick spider bot continued to speak. "When I stumbled upon this planet, I decided to add another species to my collection. And knowing you're here to watch just makes it all the more… delicious." Airachnid emphasized this with a lick of her metallic lips. "You're still the monster I remember from the war…" Arcee said with growing rage in her voice. "ARCEE!" Suddenly, Arcee looked over to see Jack standing at least 30 yards behind Airachnid.

Jack was somewhat enthralled at the sight before him; a large femme that resembled a large insect was circling Arcee who had her blasters aimed at the other femme. When Arcee looked over at Jack, the large insect bot shot something from her fists that sent a chill up Jacks spine, webs that stuck to Arcee and pinned her to the wall of the dried river bed. "A giant spider, this is getting interesting."

Jack couldn't hide the interest in his voice as he quickly ran up between the large spider's legs to Arcee's side, where he deftly cut through one of the webs holding Arcee's left arm down. As soon as it was free, Arcee raised her blaster and shot right at Airachnid. The blast knocked the large spider bot on her back about 80 yards away. Jack continued cutting through the thick web as Arcee began to speak. "Jack what are you doing here? I told you to stay put!"

Jack was starting to see just how hardheaded Arcee really was and yet he couldn't really blame her, her tenacity had gotten her through the war and it was how she lived. "You really think I'm gonna let you go fight alone Arcee? That's not how I operate; partners don't ditch partners." Jack would've continued cutting the web had Arcee not said something that struck a serious chord with Jack. "Get this through your' head Jack, we are not partner's! You're a liability, the only reason you're here is because this was supposed to be 'no risk'!"

Jack had a great deal of patience, but it slightly hurt him that he was called a liability. "For a war hardened femme, you're a terrible liar Arcee. I can see it in your' optics, you're scared and afraid." Jack knew that he was throwing a low blow saying this to Arcee, but it obviously hit a chord as she once again looked outwards in a flashback state. Jack didn't waste time trying to get her out of the trance and so went for cutting the webs off Arcee, so far he had been able to get one of her legs, arms and a majority of her upper body freed.

He would have continued had Arcee not suddenly began speaking. "You're right Jack, I am afraid. Afraid of losing you, I'm scared that I won't be able to keep you safe." Jack suddenly looked up when he heard the sincerity in Arcee's voice, but she was cut off by a gleeful and quite sadistic voice. "It seems you've moved on to a new partner Arcee. Sooner or later, you have to ask yourself Arcee; is it them or me?" Jack saw Airachnid standing behind them with a sadistic smile on her face plate.

Jack drew his other hand axe from the holster on his waste so that he held one in each hand, but his stand off was cut off by Arcee. "Jack, stay away from her, she hunts native species, and she's on Earth; that means humans!" Jack looked up and could see the fear now in Arcee's optics, but before he could speak she gave a simple but very clear command. "RUN!" With that, Jack took off up the river bed from where he had come and turned in time to hear what Airachnid said. "And that's why I work alone. It's so sad when you lose someone close to you. Oh but don't think I'm letting you out of this."

At this,Airachnid used her spider legs to scale the wall where Arcee was held so she was upside down over Arcee's face and continued to speak. "I fully intend to snuff out your' spark, and I promise you… I will make it hurt." At this point, Airachnid's face was now right next to where Arcee's com link was so she could ensure Arcee heard Airachnid's final promise. "But that will be nothing compared to the pain of knowing… that I'm going to add your' little human to my collection." Airachnid then turned around to pursue Jack who was now running like a mad man. But he was still within earshot to hear Arcee's scream. "JAAAAAAACK!"

Holy rusted scraplets, Chapter 5 is up and running! Hope you all enjoy it, coming up next: Jack learns just how to piss off a certain spider. Only time and my decision on writing the next chapter will tell if Jack survives... or not. Mwuahahahahaha. Anywho, read, review, and comment. Until next time my fellow robotic warriors, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! ;)


	6. Chapter 6

AAAAAAAGH! I have returned at last! Anyways, I ain't gonna bother you with the story of my dissapearance from fanfiction. Onwards to the chase seen! Mwuahahahahaha!

Ch.6

Jack ran through the woods as quickly as he could, actually hearing Airachnid play around with him in her sick demented joy of hunting. "That's the spirit Jack, play hard to get." Suddenly, Jack froze, as if overtaken by some sense of strength that was screaming at him to stand and fight, it was as if time froze and he could think. 'How can I fight her? She's been hunting for probably hundreds of years, I've killed one Decepticon and it was just a foot soldier.'

Jack suddenly realized something before he looked in his bag. Although he was well trained and respectable, his buddy Michael was a serious fire bug; he would put fireworks in Jack's bag so that they could have bottle rocket wars, among other things, on the weekends. He hid behind a nearby tree and looked through his bag.

"Yes, finally something I can use!" Inside the bag he found a handful of smoke bombs and a few packs of black cat fire crackers. The smoke bombs are a special kind that goes off much like the military smoke grenade. Jack took the packs of black cats and lit all the fuses and tossed them behind him.

He then hid and as they started going off, he could see Airachnid moving towards the sound he soon was able to sneak close to her and light the fuses of the smoke bombs and throw a handful of smoke bombs at her legs. They exploded and he suddenly ran at her, his hand axes in his grip and as he moved by one of her spider legs, he slashed his axes through her thinner legs with all the strength he could muster. The smoke began to dissipate and he found that his idea had worked.

Airachnid was growling now and she had two injured legs that were hampering her ability to use her extra appendages, with that Jack began running again and he soon found himself at the front of Airachnid's ship, he stood in place for a moment and started analyzing his current situation. 'If I go in there I'll be cornered.' Jack suddenly heard a certain spider-bot not far away, speak up. "Now where did you scamper off to?"

With that Jack threw a decent sized rock into the ship and snuck around the side to hide under the access ramp. Jack waited for a few seconds and he soon heard metallic footsteps moving towards the ship, he froze waiting for something to happen and he soon heard the bot in question speak. "If you wanted a tour Jack all you had to do was ask."

Jack could hear the joy in Airachnid's voice at thinking she had Jack cornered; she began walking into the ship to claim the trophy that was not even there. Jack began walking to the back of the ship to escape up the edge of the crater when he heard Airachnid from inside the ship. "Jack, did you see the empty space? I hope you like it, it's where you'll soon hang your' head." Jack ignored the jest and continued sneaking to the back of the ship.

Jack was about to make a run for it when he stepped in something cold and wet. He looked down to find a blue slightly glowing liquid coming from the ship. "Energon." Jack suddenly remembered something Jack had heard from Ratchet, that liquid energon was extremely flammable and when lit in large quantities could cause one hell of an explosion. Jack suddenly heard footsteps on the access ramp of the ship and he quickly reached into his back pack and grabbed an emergency flare and lit it.

He threw it into the area of the ship that was leaking energon just in time to here Airachnid call out to him. He saw the energon catch fire and ran like the deranged spider bot was on his heels. Jack looked back just in time to see Airachnid catch sight of the flaming energon. She looked up with a look of terror on her face plates, and for a second Jack felt the power of being the hunter rather than the hunted. "JACK!"

Airachnid's outcry didn't stop Jack from running; but the next second, Jack found himself lying on the ground with his vision now quite foggy. He looked up to see what was left of Airachnid's ship burning; but just as he was getting up, Jack felt something hit his foot. Jack looked down to see a blast of webs on his foot; he looked up to see none other than Airachnid standing in front of her burning ship with one hand raised right at him.

She shot another large blast of webs at Jack and he was soon plastered against a tree, unable to move. Jack struggled against his bindings and looked up just in time to see Airachnid run her fingers softly over his cheek and down to his throat. Jack closed his eyes excepting his inevitable death when he suddenly heard a large crash of metal. He opened his eyes to see none other than Arcee standing in front of him and Airachnid back on the ground with a pair of blaster marks on her chest.

Arcee turned to Jack and cut him free of his bonds. "Are you okay Jack?" Jack looked up at the blue femme and smiled. "I am now, thanks Arcee." Jack spoke in a relieved tone. Jack felt something stir in him as Arcee returned his smile with one of her own. "Jack, you risked your' life out there. And you actually held your' own against Airachnid." Just as she finished speaking a drilling noise could be heard behind her; Jack looked past Arcee to see Airachnid was using her remaining spider limbs to drill down into the ground to escape.

Arcee quickly turned with her blasters firing, hoping to get a lucky shot in on Airachnid, but the sadistic spider bot was already gone. Arcee ran up to the edge of the drilled out hole and looked down inside. "AIRACHNID!" The anger in Arcee's voice was apparent and Jack ran up to her side to look down into the hole as well. Jack could tell that Arcee was distraught that Airachnid had escaped; the blue femme continued looking down into the hole as her face changed from a look of rage to one of regret "Jack…I'm sorry you had to face my demons today…"

She frowned with her face lowered and her eyes averted. He placed a hand on the side of her leg. "We all have moments where we relive bad memories, I'm just glad you're alright Arcee." Arcee looked down at Jack and a smile appeared on her face plates. She then looked up and placed her hand by her head. "Arcee to base, we need a ground bridge Ratchet." At that moment a mosquito landed on Jacks chest, Jack casually smacked the bug and wiped his hands before hearing Arcee speak up. "I need to get my partner away from any oversized bugs."

Jack looked up at the smiling blue femme with a smile of his own; the words he just heard bringing him a sense of new friendship. "Partner huh?" Jack couldn't help the smile on his face. "Junior partner, I can still pull rank Jack." She continued as a swirling green vortex opened up behind them. Jack decided to play along as he spoke up. "Whatever you say Lieutenant." Arcee walked through the ground bridge with a large smile as Jack's words sent a pulse through her war hardened spark. 'He called me by my rank.' Suddenly, Arcee felt something she had not felt in a very long time: peace.

Jack walked into base and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his abdomen; he fell to his knees and grabbed at his stomach. When he brought his hand up, it was covered in blood. "Arcee…" Arcee looked back in time to see Jack fall face first to the floor. "Jack!" She ran to his prone form and picked him up in both hands, and when she saw the blood on his hands, her spark went cold. "Ratchet, Jack's injured!"

The rough old medic suddenly sprang into action and took Jack over to one of the smaller medical berths in the Med Bay and scanned Jack's body. "A few shards of metal have pierced the skin and embedded themselves inside Jack; one of them is almost puncturing one of his major organs…. Aaaaagh Scrap!" Arcee was standing over Jack trying to remain calm but she was scared to death that Jack could die. "Ratchet, can't you do anything!?"

She was screaming at the medic with all hope that he could help Jack. "I don't have any knowledge of human anatomy! I don't know what to do!" For the first time in many years, Ratchet lowered his head in defeat, he felt useless; knowing that someone was hurt and that he didn't know how to help. Arcee was about to scream when she suddenly heard an aged but firm voice. "Ratchet, contact Agent Fowler, have him contact Jack's mother, she is a human medic with knowledge on how to treat Jack as well as the necessary tools; after that, I need you to go to Jack's home, pick up Mrs. Darby, and readdress the situation to her."

Optimus' voice was calm but forceful. Without hesitation, Ratchet followed his orders before transforming into his ambulance form and speeding off at maximum overdrive to pick up June Darby. Optimus was maintaining a calm appearance and at that moment, the large monitor over the computer controls the base showed Agent Fowler as he spoke. "Prime, I have a medical team with extra equipment heading towards your' base just in case June needs any help. I'll be there to pick her up as well so I can inform her of what's transpired over the past few months." Fowler's voice was clear and precise. "Understood, we await your' arrival Agent Fowler."

With that the screen went dark again and Optimus walked over to Arcee who was currently standing at Jack's berth side with a pained look on her face. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder and spoke as calmly as possible. "Arcee, I need to know how this happened." Arcee looked back at Optimus and to the prime's shock, he saw Energon tears running down her face plates; she then spoke up in a broken tone. "Airachnid…"

HOLY FRAG! Jack is as Arcee would say, "neck deep in scrap right now!" What will be in store for our favorite little human? I'm not gonna tell you yet! But fret not, I shall get the next chapter up soon. Until next time my fellow Autobots and Decepticons; TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Arcee explained to Optimus how she and Jack had found Airachnid's ship crashed out in Oregon and how she had tried to kill Jack; she told him how Jack had risked his life to draw Airachnid off and in doing so gave Arcee time to free herself and find him. "He stood his ground against Airachnid?" The disbelief in the prime's voice was evident but Arcee quickly defended her partner. "He attacked her and cut off two of her extra legs, he even destroyed her ship by igniting the energon that was leaking from it."

Optimus was amazed at the bravery Jack had shown in the face of such a deadly foe. 'He truly is like his father.' Optimus thought to himself as he looked over at Jack who was lying on the medical berth. At that moment, Ratchet pulled in and his doors opened to reveal June Darby and Agent Fowler. "Where is my son?" June was frantic, but was still keeping her calm as she was led to Jack's berth and she automatically began giving orders to the medics that had entered the base just moments before her. "I need to ask you all to step out and let me do my job."

June was referring to Fowler and the Autobots; Arcee was about to protest but was cut off by Optimus. "We will do as you ask June Darby, should you need any extra assistance, do not hesitate to ask." Optimus gave a stern look to Arcee and she knew he wouldn't allow for an argument. Arcee gave up and followed Optimus out of the Med Bay before Optimus walked over to her as she spoke up. "Optimus, I can't lose another partner… not to her…"

Arcee was visibly shaking now and Optimus quickly placed a large hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. "You won't lose him, Jack will survive this." At that moment Bulkhead and Bumblebee pulled in and let out their respective human charges, Optimus released Arcee just as his troops walked up with their humans. "Optimus, what's going on, what's wrong with Jack?" Bulkhead wasn't Jack's guardian, but after spending time with Miko and having spoken a few times with Jack, he had begun to develop a soft spot for humans, especially the three young ones team prime now watched over.

"Jack and Arcee were on a mission when they were attacked… by Airachnid." At the mention of that name, both Bulkhead and Bumblebee went wide eyed. " _Airachnid is on Earth!?"_ Bumblebee spoke in Cybertronian. "I am afraid so, she nearly killed Arcee and Jack both, it was only that Jack was able to draw her attention and fought her himself, destroying her ship in the process, that gave Arcee time to get keep them both safe."

Optimus gave great praise to Jack for his quick thinking that likely saved both his and Arcee's lives. "Looks like Jack is more like 'Wolf' then we realized." Bulkhead spoke with a small smile on his face. Arcee looked over at the Med Bay door and spoke up. "We think some shrapnel from when Airachnid's ship blew up shot into Jack, it's…"

At this point Arcee's optics were clenched tightly shut and she, to the shock of everyone, was beginning to let loose a few energon tears. At this sight, Bulkhead and Bumblebee went silent with their heads lowered. Suddenly, Rafael spoke up for the first time since his and Miko's arrivals. "How bad is Jack's condition Optimus?" Both Raf and Miko looked up to Optimus with fear in their eyes; even though they were still very young, and they all were very different children, Rafael and Miko looked up to Jack as they would to an older brother.

Optimus felt his spark ache at the sight of such young beings in pain as he answered the given question. "According to Ratchet's scans, one of the shards is dangerously close to puncturing one of Jack's vital organs. Mrs. Darby is in the Med Bay with a human medical team working on removing the shards as we speak." At this, Miko ran over to Bulkhead with her arms wrapped around herself and her head down; Raf was in a similar state in that he walked over to Bumblebee, who in turn kneeled down to put a gentle hand down on the floor beside the young boy.

Arcee waited with the team for what felt like hours until June came out of the Med Bay with a tired look on her face, Arcee was the first to bolt over to the elder Darby and before she even had a chance to ask about Jack's condition, Junes hand shot up in a motion to remain silent. "Jack's fine, he'll have some new scars from the ordeal but he'll make a full recovery." Everyone in the room let out a sigh of great relief, but it was short lived as June continued. "Now I think it's time for an explanation on what all of this is about."

Enter huge fragging sigh of relief here. Jack lives to tell the tale of his encounter with Airachnid; but it will not be the last time the two face off. Will get the next chapter up soon. Until then, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!


	8. Chapter 8

Here comes Ch. 8; the next couple of chapters won't have much action in them per say. But they'll mainly add some fluff to the story as a whole. Anywho, onwards to the story!

Ch. 8

Optimus explained to June how the Autobots had arrived on Earth after the destruction of Cybertron and how they worked with the American Government to defend humanity from the Decepticons. He informed her also that her husband had worked with them, which she surprisingly handled rather well. "Just like Fred to want to fight for his country." The smile on June's face spread to everyone in the room until Optimus continued.

"He was a great warrior and a true friend to each of us, but…" Optimus gave a look over at Arcee who was looking down with sadness in her face, Optimus hated seeing Arcee like this, but he continued on regardless. "One day while on a mission, he and his guardian, Cliffjumper, were ambushed by a patrol of Decepticons; they were taken prisoner and interrogated for information."

June looked over to Arcee and could tell that she had been close to Jack's father as well as his guardian; she walked over to the blue femme and placed a hand on her leg armor. "Fred knew the risks of being a soldier and so did I. I'm proud to say he was my husband, and that he was able to fight for what he believed in." At this, Arcee looked down at June her face plates still holding a saddened expression, but she was able to manage a weak smile.

Arcee was about to speak but, much like Jack, June beat Arcee to the punch. "You can go and see Jack if you'd like, he was asking for you before I left." At this, Arcee felt a tinge of relief flow through her. Jack was alright and was able to see them. Arcee walked into the Med Bay to find Jack on the same medical berth she had seen him on.

He had been stripped of his shirt and was now wrapped with bandages on his chest, arms, and sections of his abdomen. Arcee suddenly found herself looking over the exposed skin of Jacks body and the toned muscles that lay underneath. 'Primus he's built, he's got a perfect…' Arcee suddenly cut off her thought as she realized where it was heading. 'Snap out of it Arcee!' Jack looked over to Arcee with a smile on his face. "How're you holdin' up partner?"

The smile on Jack's face brought a flood of relief to Arcee's spark, she walked over to the small bed that was on top of one of the medical berths and leaned down to be closer to her human. "I should be asking you the same question, all things taken into account." Jack looked up at Arcee with a small smirk. "Ah, aside from a few new scars, I'll be good as new soon enough. How's mom taking everything?"

Arcee knew how much Jack cared about his mom; it was endearing to the femme to see that underneath the hard features that were visible on Jack, there was a caring and affectionate son. "She's actually been pretty accepting of everything." The smile on Arcee's face brought a silent joy to Jack's heart. 'God, she is amazing...' Suddenly Jack felt himself begin to open up as he began to get closer to Arcee.

He was going to say something but suddenly, Arcee spoke up. "Jack, you risked your' life back in the woods; Airachnid is one of the most psychotic and disturbed femmes in existence and you could have gotten yourself killed. Why didn't you run?" Jack had admitted to himself that he could've been killed if things had turned out differently, and had Arcee not escaped in the nick of time, he would likely be dead with his head taken as a trophy by Airachnid.

"Arcee…I didn't want to lose you. We might not know each other as well as you knew your other partners, but I already considered you a friend and a partner even if you didn't see me that way… and…" Jack suddenly looked away as though something was troubling him. Arcee suddenly realized just how much Jack cared about her; he had been willing to put himself in harm's way so that she would be safe, a human she had only known for a few months, had risked his life to save hers.

Suddenly, an idea began to form in Arcee's mind. Arcee felt as though she needed some time to think and placed a hand on Jack's shoulder before speaking in a soft tone to her human friend. "You just rest up for now; you've had a long day." Jack looked back to find Arcee wearing a beautiful smile and her eyes seemed to sparkle for a moment before he registered what she had said. "A little rest… sounds pretty good."

With that Arcee watched as Jack closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep with a smile on his face. After ensuring Jack was safe and comfortable, she left the Med Bay to speak with Optimus. She walked through the base to the freight elevator in the back and rode up to the top of the base, she knew that at times like these Optimus would come up here to relieve himself of some of the stress that came with being a leader.

She opened the door to the elevator and saw her leader standing at the edge of the cliff with his hands on his hips and his head looking slightly upwards toward the horizon. She walked up to his side and stood there for a moment, taking in the view that Optimus would allow himself to indulge in when he came up here. "So peaceful and majestic; this planet. Unlike the final days of Cybertron."

Arcee could hear the regret in Optimus' voice; she knew he constantly blamed himself for failing to save their home planet. "Don't blame yourself over what's in the past Optimus, the Autobots have only survived this long because of your' leadership." Optimus looked down to Arcee and smiled deeply before speaking. "How is Jack now that he has been attended to?"

Arcee looked back out to the horizon with a smile on her face plates; a smile that didn't go unnoticed to Optimus. "He's doing well; he's resting right now, and after the day he's had, he deserves some rest." Arcee was happy to know that her partner was safe; she remained silent for a few seconds before hearing Optimus speak up. "I sense that you have something you wish to tell me."

Arcee looked up at her leader with a smile, he always seemed to know when something was on her mind, and he always confronted it in a way a father would. This is why she came up here; she had nothing to hide from Optimus because she knew that he would understand. "It's about Jack; he risked his life out there today; he drew Airachnid away to give me time to get free, he was even able to hold his own."

Optimus looked down at his young Lieutenant and spoke with a knowing voice. "I'm sensing that you've grown to care quite deeply about young Jack as of late." Arcee looked down for a moment, wondering if this was truly what she should do, but she knew she wanted to hear what Optimus thought about her growing situation.

"Optimus, at first he seemed like a burden, but after I learned about him and who he is, we became close; almost like brother and sister. And he still is but… after today, I can't help but feel like… like he's more than just a friend to me now." Optimus suddenly held a long smile as he spoke up once more.

"Love is something we all hope to find Arcee; it works in ways that not even the wisest of the Primes could completely comprehend. It can transcend anything, even species." Arcee suddenly looked up with an almost hopeful look on her face. "Optimus, are you saying that you…" Optimus continued to smile as he once again spoke.

"You need not worry about me Arcee, should you decide to be with Jack, you will have my blessing in it." Arcee couldn't help the joy that filled her spark as she walked up and hugged Optimus. Arcee then walked back to the freight elevator and decided then and there that she would ask Jack what he thought of a possible future with her in his life.

Holy scraplets! Ch. 8 up and running wild! Yaaaay! Lol. Anywho, you know the drill people. Read, review, the whole shibang. ROLL OUT! ;)

P.S. You might notice I had Optimus use the line that Sentinel Prime used in Transformers Dark of the Moon. The reason behind this is that it is an amazing line and I despise Sentinel for the fact that he betrayed the Autobots like that and FRICKING KILLED IRONHIDE! THAT GRINDED MY GEARS TO NO FRICKING END! For these reasons I rebuke Sentinel and find him unworthy of the title of 'Prime' and so do not see him as deserving of such an awesome line. That said, it was nice knowing that Leonard Nemoy was the one who did Sentinel's voice. That was pretty awesome. :)


	9. Chapter 9

OOOOOH PRIMUS HERE IT COMES! THE MOMENT ALL YOU ARCEEXJACK FANS HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! Hehehehehehehehehehe. Enjoy. ;)

Ch. 9

Jack was lying in the medical berth in the Med Bay. He had waited until Arcee had left and opened his eyes as he thought about the day's events as well as the latest development that was going through his mind. 'Why do I have these feelings for Arcee?' Jack couldn't for the life of him figure out why he had begun to see Arcee as something more than just a partner, so he tried to reason with himself.

'Well, she's an amazing fighter; she looks nice considering that she's an extraterrestrial advanced robot, she cares about the team…" Jack kept trying to avoid the one reason for his new feelings for Arcee that would cement them into place, but he couldn't stop thinking about it and it soon rang clear and true in his head. 'She knows what it's like to lose someone close…'

Optimus had told him about Arcee's first partner, Tailgate, who had been killed by Airachnid. 'That explains all the rage on Arcee's part when Airachnid showed up.' Jack had thought when Optimus told him how Airachnid had tortured Arcee for information and then killed Tailgate right in front of her.

But then Optimus spoke of Arcee's late partner, Cliffjumper, who had saved Arcee from Airachnid and helped the blue femme to overcome the emotional pain that came with the whole ordeal. "Hey partner." Jack looked over to see Arcee walk through the entrance to the Med Bay with a smile on her face, he smiled as he heard the blue femme's voice; it was smooth like silk and seemed to give him a feeling of complete peace.

Jack couldn't help the smile that crossed his face. "Hey Arcee, anything new happening?" After that, Arcee suddenly seemed to become quiet and closed off. She looked away and had a conflicted look on her face. Jack wasn't going to push the issue if he could help it because he too was having some conflicting thoughts; thoughts about the very robot standing across from him.

Jack knew he would have to address these feelings sooner or later so he decided to take a gamble. "You okay partner?" Arcee suddenly looked up and spoke up in a nervous voice. "Jack, can I ask you something? It's a bit personal and kind of odd." Jack then sat himself up in his berth as he gave Arcee his undivided attention. "What's up Arcee?"

Arcee walked over to Jack's berth and sat on the edge near Jack's legs and looked down with a neutral expression present on her face plates. Jack could feel the tension growing suddenly when she spoke up. "Have you ever had someone special in your' life?" Jack lowered his head a bit as he spoke up in a low tone. "I've never wanted to be in a relationship. I've had offers but I never took any of them."

"Why, surely someone in your' school must have caught your' eye?" Arcee's voice held a shocked tone. Jack was suddenly a bit amused at how Arcee was behaving, even for a seasoned warrior; but as soon as he felt this, he suddenly found it rather endearing. The idea that Arcee in her own way was actually more innocent then young Rafael showed off a whole new side of Arcee that Jack suddenly felt was a fragile side of the blue femme.

Jack then realized something, he suddenly didn't care that he and Arcee were so vastly different, that he was human and she was a Cybertronian warrior. 'I'm in love with Arcee.' The realization hit Jack hard and rocked him to his very core. While Jack had been caught up in his thoughts, he didn't realize Arcee had been looking right at him for several seconds now. "Jack?"

Jack finally snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Arcee with a neutral expression. "Most girls from my school are so self-centered and obsessed with how they look that I lose interest in them the moment I meet them... that and I don't want to be with any normal girl anymore…." Jack mumbled the last bit, but Jack didn't realize that Arcee could hear even the minutest sounds when she was focused and Arcee heard Jack's mumbling as clear as ever.

Arcee could feel the hope growing inside her; she was practically vibrating with wonder at what Jack might have meant by that. Jack suddenly looked up at her and spoke once more. "What about you partner, anyone ever been lucky enough to be with you?" The words had already left Jack's mouth by the time he realized what he had said and he suddenly was very nervous he might have just revealed himself to her.

Arcee couldn't have been more shocked at what Jack had just asked her and how he asked the question. 'He just complemented me…' Arcee's spark was practically pulsing out of her chest cavity and it was taking all of her wheel power to keep herself from pinning Jack down and taking him as her spark mate right then and there. 'Is it even possible for a human to do that with a cybertronian?' Arcee took a few steady breaths before speaking up.

"No, I've never been interested in being with someone else… until now…" Jack looked up at Arcee who was currently looking down at the floor with a look he was quite familiar with on her face plates…shame. Jack hated seeing Arcee like this, it made him think of the way she acted when she was facing off with Airachnid and how pained she seemed every time the sick spiderbot reminded her that she had lost both her previous partners.

Suddenly Jack's entire mind set changed. "Arcee, I know that look on your' face so you better wipe it off right now." At this Arcee looked up in utter shock at how Jack had just ordered her to do something, she was going to speak up but once again, as usual, Jack beat her to it. "Arcee, I know that look all too well; every time someone mentions Airachnid, Tailgate, or Cliffjumper, that face shows up. You have no reason to be ashamed of what happened in the past."

Arcee was frozen on the spot as she listened to what Jack was saying. "What happened to Tailgate and Cliff was completely out of your' hands; there was nothing you could have said to Airachnid to keep her from killing Tailgate, you didn't know the information she wanted and she loves making people suffer as it is. And Cliffjumper was ambushed while you were both on separate missions. So stop blaming yourself for what happened, because I know that if it had been me in their positions, I sure as hell wouldn't have; and that's why I know they didn't blame you then and they don't blame you now."

Arcee didn't notice the Energon tears that were going down her face; Jack had spoken up for her, saying that she had done everything she could to save her partners and that she had nothing to blame herself for. 'He sounds like Wolf…' Jack carried the confidence and wisdom that was worthy of a Prime, and at this point, Arcee couldn't stop her next move.

Arcee suddenly lunged right at Jack and in the next second, Jack found his lips connected with Arcee's Silver, polymer ones. Jack was surprised to say the least but in a few seconds he found himself accepting, as well as returning the tender kiss. Jack placed a bandaged hand on Arcee's face and gave a gentle caress that sent shockwaves through her spark chamber.

Arcee wrapped her hand gently around Jack's back and pulled him in to deepen the kiss. They stayed that way for a few moments before pulling their lips apart but keeping their foreheads touching as they caught their breath. Jack sat there for a moment, catching his breath before a thought entered his head. 'If Michael found out about this, I'd never hear the end of it.'

Jack suddenly huffed out a light laugh before he locked eyes with Arcee as they simply held each other's gaze. Arcee actually let a few Energon tears fall from her optics as she closed them and held a smile on her face. She had finally found someone that she could be with, and not only that but Jack had accepted her as well. Arcee felt as though her spark would explode in the next moment as suddenly, she opened her eyes just in time to see Jack lunge back in for another kiss; this time, the kiss lasted for almost five minutes as Jack and Arcee entered a fierce make out session.

They pulled apart once more and at last Arcee spoke up. "So, what happens now?" Jack could hear the slight uncertainty in her voice, but he was so at peace right now, he didn't want her to worry; so he tried to ease her mind. "What do you want to happen?" Arcee thought for a moment, but before she could make a decision, an older voice split the air. "Jack, Agent Fowler would like to speak with you if you have the strength."

Jack looked over at Arcee who gave a slight smirk and answered for the young human. "He definitely has the strength Optimus." Optimus could hear the happiness in Arcee's voice and looked at her and Jack before a large smile arose on his face plates. "Arcee, let us give Jack and Agent Fowler some time to speak in private."

With that Arcee looked over at Jack and gave him another simple smile before walking out of the Med Bay with her commander. Once Optimus and Arcee had left, Agent Fowler walked in and up to Jack's berths side. "How're you holdin' up son?" Jack gave a snicker and a simple smile before answering. "Aside from some new scars, I'll be fine." With this, Fowler looked Jack in the eyes and got down to the business at hand.

"Alright now, I'm sure you want to work with the Autobots, and I've been making some calls and getting some info on you." At this, Jack sat up straight knowing that this demanded extreme attention. 'This is either really good or really bad.' Jack's thought was ended as Agent Fowler spoke up once more. "I've spoken with your' teachers and counselors at school; they all say you are dead set on enlisting in the Army after High School?"

Jack could tell Fowler was asking a question instead of making a statement, so he decided to be straight forward with the agent. "Yes sir, I started out wanting to be a soldier when I was younger and my dad was still alive; but as I got older, and after he died, my motives changed. I wanted to enlist because I thought…" Jack paused at this; he wasn't used to showing emotions.

Agent Fowler seemed to understand as he spoke up once more in a soft tone. "You thought you could be closer to him even though he was gone." Jack looked up with a nod as he spoke up. "Call it what you want now but aside from that I don't have any real ambition." At this, Agent Fowler gave a small smirk before his serious face returned and he spoke up.

"Well, I've spoken with your' mother as well, and I've also had a talk with General Thomas Bryce and the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and we're all in agreement, from what I understand, you've already obtained enough credits to graduate and you've also got excellent grades right now." Jack was suddenly getting interested in what was being said at the moment and sat up and turned fully to the agent in front of him.

"What are you trying to say Agent?" At this, Agent Fowler took on a more solemn tone. "The decision has been left to you; if you would like to, you can have an early graduation and enlist before the end of this year. And in five years, you would be able to work fully with the Autobots." Jack pondered over this in his mind, 'I have a chance to actually work with the Autobots, to follow the path my dad took.'

As Jack thought about this, his thoughts drifted to Arcee and the incident with Airachnid; Jack knew that if he did this, he would be able to defend himself and the rest of the team better should another incident like that ever happen. He knew it would be hard to leave Arcee being that he just found out that he cared so deeply about her and she cared about him as well.

But if it meant that he would be stronger for the both of them, then it seemed like a necessary sacrifice. "Alright, I'll do it. But I'll need to tell Arcee about this and take care of a few things before leaving." Fowler gave Jack an understanding nod and walked out of the Med Bay.

Arcee had followed Optimus to allow Fowler to speak with Jack and she soon found herself moving towards Optimus' quarters. Suddenly, Arcee was a bit worried. Optimus only brought one of the team to his quarters when he was giving very bad news or giving an extreme reprimand to the individual. Never the less, she followed her commander with a smile on her face.

She had confessed her feelings to Jack and he had returned them just as strongly, she had found something that made her truly happy. A few seconds later, she was walking into Optimus' quarters and when they were both inside; Optimus locked the door and spoke up. "Take a seat Arcee." With that, Arcee sat down on the large chair Optimus sometimes used when reading the old Iacon files and histories he had managed to save during the war.

Optimus sat down on his berth before looking at Arcee. "It would seem that things went well between you and Jack." Optimus had a smile on his face and Arcee couldn't help but wear one of her own. "Optimus, Jack and I might not be able to be spark mates, but I know I love him more than any Autobot I've ever met in my life." Optimus looked Arcee in the eyes and his smile seemed to grow even larger as his optics took on a soft look that only a father could hold.

"I am happy you have found someone who cares for you." Arcee could hear the sincerity in the Prime's voice but she knew that Optimus hadn't simply brought her to his quarters for a happy chat. "Optimus, is there something you need to tell me?" Optimus' face suddenly became serious and his voice also regained its commanding tone.

"You are correct on that account Arcee; I spoke with Agent Fowler while you were with Jack. He has informed me of what he is speaking to Jack about and I believe you should know as well." Arcee was suddenly very curious as to what Fowler might have in store for her human and so she leaned in to better listen to her commander.

"Jack has informed his teachers at his school as well as his mother that he intends to join the human military after his graduation and that he plans to follow in his father's footsteps and become a member of what the humans call the Army Rangers." Arcee could understand this, she could see that Jack would want to be like his father and serve his country.

Arcee actually found it rather endearing that Jack was so much like 'Wolf' in that Jack wanted to fight for others; however, her thoughts were cut off when Optimus continued. "Agent Fowler has spoken to his superiors as well as Jack's mother and they are all in agreement that should Jack wish to, he will be able to join the military within this month and after five years, Jack would be able to become an official member of our unit."

Arcee was floored at what she had just heard. Jack had the chance to become a member of the team, but it would mean being away from him longer than she really cared to be. "If Jack wants to do it, I'll support him completely. It's just…" Optimus could see the look in Arcee's eyes and knew that she desperately wanted to be with Jack. "I understand Arcee; but remember Jack will come back; it will just take time."

Arcee perked up a bit at this, one thing about Optimus was that he always found the good in a difficult situation. With that Arcee smiled and nodded at her leader and with that, they left Optimus' quarters and returned to the control center to await Jack's response to Agent Fowler's proposal.

Back in the Med Bay:

Jack was waiting in his berth thinking about the coming years of being in the military and about the day when he would return as an official member of Team Prime. Jack had begun to dose off a bit when he heard metallic footsteps entering the room. He opened his eyes to see his blue Autobot guardian and now girlfriend enter the room. 'God it sounds weird calling her my girlfriend.'

Jack looked up as Arcee once again sat on the edge of the berth Jack was on and leaned in close to Jack's face. Jack knew what was coming and gladly accepted the kiss from his beautiful blue Autobot. They pulled apart and Arcee lied down on her side so she could stay close to Jack. "So, have you decided on Fowler's offer?" Jack couldn't resist the smile that appeared on his face.

He wasn't surprised that Optimus likely informed Arcee of what was happening and it made it easier on Jack knowing that Arcee wasn't overreacting. "Arcee…" Before Jack could continue, Arcee silenced Jack with another passionate kiss before parting their lips and holding their foreheads against each other as she spoke up. "Whatever decision you make, I'll support you the entire way Jack."

Jack suddenly felt his heart beat faster as he felt the love he had for Arcee flare up all over again. He continued to smile as Arcee pulled away and looked Jack in the eyes waiting for his response, which Jack didn't keep secret for very long. "I accepted the offer, but… he says I'll be leaving for boot camp as soon as I'm medically cleared, which according to my mom will be the end of this month…"

Jack hated that he would have to leave so soon, March ended in two weeks and then it was five years of training and military service. "Then we'll just have to spend the time we have together before you have to leave." Arcee gave Jack a smile and with that, Jack felt a wave of relief fill him; Arcee would wait for him, he could see it in her eyes.

Jack held Arcee's gaze for a few moments before snagging a glance at the large monitor in the room which had the time on it. "It's almost 10 p.m., I don't know about you Arcee, but I think it's time we grabbed some sleep." Arcee gave an understanding smile and went to stand up when Jack suddenly spoke up. "Arcee?" Arcee looked back at Jack to see what her human lover needed. "Would you mind staying the night here?"

Jack's voice was low as he was nearly asleep but Arcee understood every word. "Sure." Arcee's voice was soft and tender, which was all the help Jack needed to drift off to sleep. Arcee lied back down beside Jack on the berth and entered stasis beside her young love. Outside of the Med Bay, standing by the doorway, Optimus stood with Ratchet at his side.

After Arcee had left to return to Jack, Optimus assembled the rest of the team and informed them of the new bond between Arcee and Jack. Miko had squealed and jumped around; talking about getting a picture of Arcee and Jack "smooching." Rafael had simply smiled as he said he was happy Jack had found someone to be with.

Bumblebee and Bulkhead had been a bit shocked as they had never expected something like this, but Ratchet on the other hand gave a warm smile as he continued his work in the control center and explained to Bumblebee and Bulkhead how love was a strange emotion that could transcend anything and everything. Optimus and Ratchet walked away to allow Arcee and Jack to rest for the night.

They had just entered the control center and were about to go to their individual quarters when Ratchet spoke up. "Optimus, I'm guessing you never told Arcee that she and Jack were capable of spark bonding did you?" Optimus and Ratchet had known of Cybertronians who had in the past bonded with humans and had become spark mates before disappearing.

Optimus had decided to let Arcee discover this as a surprise, should she and Jack ever be alone together in a setting where they could bond in a way they would never forget. "She'll find out soon enough. For now, let Jack mature a bit, he is still young for a human." With this, Ratchet gave a nod and a smile to his commander and oldest living friend before going off to his quarters for a little stasis time.

Oh... my... PRIMUS OR GOD OR WHATEVER! Finally got the big point in on this story! Well, one big point anyways. Things are just beginning now. Hehehehehehe. ;) Anywho, will get the next chapter up here soon. ROLL OUT!


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

Jack spent the next two weeks healing from his operation and preparing for his trip to Fort Benning in Georgia, while Arcee worked with Bulkhead and Bumblebee in the field searching for Energon deposits and handling the Decepticons whenever and wherever they appeared. It was the night before Jack left for training; Jack and Arcee were at the top of the base looking up at the stars as they spent the night together.

"Any chance you can point out Cybertron from here Cee?" Jack had been curious and eager to learn about Cybertron when he had time to speak to any of the Autobots, some of the more historic stories came from Optimus and Ratchet, while Bulkhead would tell Jack and Miko about his days as a member of the Autobot Wreckers squad.

Bumblebee told them the few stories he knew as he was the youngest member of Team Prime, Jack was actually shocked to learn that Bumblebee was born during the war for Cybertron. Then there was Arcee, she told stories of her exploits with her old partners and how at one time she had even infiltrated the Decepticon capital of Kaon. Arcee looked through the night sky trying to spot her old home and she soon spotted it and pointed upwards.

"See that star between Ursa Major and Minor? That's Cybertron." Jack spotted it quickly, it was not nearly as bright as the other stars in the galaxy, but this made sense to Jack, he remembered how Optimus had told him how the war had left Cybertron a dead and scarred planet. Jack sat up and placed a hand on Arcee's right arm. She looked down at him waiting for what was likely a question about Cybertron or one of her past partners. "What is it Jack?"

Jack suddenly stood up and took a few steps towards the edge of the base when he suddenly asked a question Arcee had not been expecting what so ever. "What can you tell me about the big figures in the Decepticons here on Earth?" Arcee suddenly sat up straight before walking over to Jack. "Why do you want to know about them?" Jack didn't look at Arcee but his eyes took on a distant look as he spoke up.

"If I'm gonna be a part of the team one day then I need to know what I'll be up against when I get back." With that, Arcee brought Jack back into the base and they made their way to the control center where Arcee walked up to a central console and started hitting buttons as she spoke up. "The big names of the Decepticons on Earth belong to veteran warriors, all of them fought on Cybertron during the war."

With that she pulled up an image of a red Decepticon with white plating for the unarmored areas of his chassis. "Knockout, he's the medical officer for the Decepticons; a specialist in interrogation, and a flamboyant egomaniac if ever there was one. He's constantly cleaning himself, making sure that there's not a single scratch on his paint job." Jack gave a smirk at this, egomaniacs were always interesting characters.

Arcee then pulled up another image of a larger bot with a mainly dark blue paint job, a heavy build, and a rust orange face plate. "Breakdown is one of the heavy hitters, he was a member of the wreckers with Bulkhead until the war started, and then he went over to the Decepticons. He's got a fierce temper and can do some serious damage in a one on one fight."

Then she pulled up an image of a slender dark purple Decepticon with a monitor like visor for a face. "Soundwave; he's one of Megatron's most loyal followers, doesn't talk much, usually does scout missions and stays off the scenes unless something big is going on." Jack could see that Soundwave likely used an aerial alt form and so could appear out of nowhere should Jack let his guard down.

The next image Arcee pulled up was an image of a slender bot with long, pointed fingers that could likely pierce hardened steel. He had wings which told Jack he was likely a fighter jet in his alt form, and a slender face that carried a deep sadistic sneer. "Then you've got Starscream; he's the Decepticon Second in Command and has been working with Megatron since the beginning of the war on Cybertron. He's as sadistic as he is ambitious; he's known among the Decepticons for using authority that normally belongs to Megatron himself, he's also fond of torturing prisoners for information when given the opportunity."

Jack could tell that Starscream was one of those troops who always thought he was smarter than everyone else, even when he was completely wrong; but Jack was pulled out of his thoughts when a familiar image was pulled up, an image Jack had only ever seen one other time, in his sleep. And when he saw the large Decepticon, Jack felt his blood boil. "Megatron."

Arcee could hear the rage in Jack's voice, and when she saw his face, it was a glare worthy of an enraged Prime. Arcee hated seeing Jack like this so she spoke up to try and get his mind focused on other aspects about the Decepticon warlord. "He was a gladiator before the war; he named himself after one of the original 13 primes and when things turned sour, he tried to persuade the Cybertron High Council to name him as the next Prime. When they named Optimus as the next Prime instead of him, he and his followers started the war. He's always kept the same alt form as an old Cybertronian Fighter Jet; and he's got a temperament that quite literally kills."

At this Jack leaned forward, analyzing every minute detail about Megatron and after a few seconds he stood up straight and walked up to one of the many overhead catwalks in the base before staring at the ground at the side of the railing. Arcee walked up behind Jack as the catwalk he was on was low enough that she could be nearly face to face with him. "Jack?"

Arcee knew Jack was likely brooding now over what Megatron had done in the past as well as the Decepticon Warlords involvement in Wolf's death. "I'm sorry you have to put up with me when I'm like this…" Arcee heard a great deal of pain in Jack's face, but she also heard a great deal of sincerity that told how much he hated being like this. "Jack, look at me."

Jack was hesitant to turn around but he soon looked at her and he was quickly met with her metallic lips. Jack was caught by surprise but he returned the kiss regardless. As their lips pulled apart, Arcee looked into Jack's eyes and spoke up in a gentle voice. "There's nothing you need to apologize about Jack, you're worth it to me." This brought a smile to Jack's face as he realized just how much each of them cared about each other. With this, they left the control center and went to Arcee's quarters to get a goodnight's sleep.

Ah. More fluff; hehehe. Anywho. Sorry of this was a bit too short a chapter. But i'll get the next chapter up soon. Until next time my friends. :)


	11. Chapter 11

Ch. 11

The send off for Jack had been a simple one; Optimus and the Autobots gave Jack their best wishes and a few ending jokes about him and Arcee while Miko, Rafael, and Jack's mother gave him a simple hug before saying their goodbyes. Jack was now sitting beside Agent Fowler In the co-pilot seat of an SR-71 that had been leant to them by NASA and allowed them to get to Georgia more quickly.

Jack sat back enjoying the feelings of flying in the great spy plane; the rush of flying at mock 4 at 35,000 feet in the air, being able to see the mountains and dusty plains that changed into deep green forests which passed underneath as they reached the half way point of the trip. They still had about an hour and a half before they reached Georgia so Jack decided to get some rest before they arrived.

The next two hours were uneventful and as they landed on one of the airstrips at the base, Jack saw a group of desert humvees driving towards them. Jack and Fowler exited the plane and awaited the welcoming committee. "The Drill Sergeant you'll be under worked with me and your' dad so don't be too nervous Jack." Jack was silently glad that he would be learning under one of his dad's old Ranger friends.

As the group of vehicles pulled to a stop in front of them, the doors started to open and a group of men in digicam ACU's walked up to them. At the front of the group was an aged man; probably in his early 50's, with black hair that was cut into a 'high and tight' fashion. He had a black beret on his head and wore a patch with two stars on it. "Jack, this is Major General Austin Miller, he's responsible for helping me get you here."

Jack looked to the General and gave a simple nod before speaking up. "Thank you for the chance to be here General." General Miller looked Jack over for a moment before smiling and speaking in a tone much like the one Optimus used when addressing the team. "Your' father was a great soldier and a better friend to me when he was here. Agent Fowler's told me of what you accomplished recently up in Oregon, you'll do fine son."

With that said, another man walked up and Jack suddenly felt a surge of surprise run through him. Standing before him was Sergeant Major Jason Donaldson, a large man that could easily put a Marine Corps instructor on the ground. "Uncle Jase; I didn't expect to see you here." The old instructor gave a smirk before replying. "Yep, the general told me you would be coming here for boot camp and he placed you in my platoon." Jack suddenly gave a smirk over to the general who suddenly spoke up. "Now that you know who you'll be working with, it's time to get you in uniform."

Three years later in Jasper:

Arcee was walking through the Autobot base thinking about Jack, it had been almost three years since he had left for the military and Arcee had to focus on other issues to keep her mind off of her human lover. She had just soon found herself in the control center and saw that Optimus was looking at one of the many monitors in the large room while Ratchet was working with Rafael on getting the 'bugs' out of the base's internal systems.

Arcee was about to walk to the training room to work on her aim with her blasters when she suddenly heard Ratchet speak up in an aggravated tone. "Ah, faulty Earth tech! Cliffjumper's life signal just jumped back on!" At that, Arcee's eyes went wide and she ran over to the large monitor. "Where did it appear?" Ratchet could hear the urgency in Arcee's voice. "It's in an old mine about 40 miles from here."

Optimus had a look on his face as though he hoped that the issue was not faulty machinery; it had been three years since Cliffjumper seemed to go offline and even to this day, the memory still haunted the team. But he was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by Arcee. "Optimus, if there's even a chance that Cliff is alive…"

Optimus could hear the hopefulness in Arcee's voice, and Optimus himself was praying to the Allspark that Cliffjumper was still alive. "Ratchet, prep the Med Bay. We might have need for it." With that, Optimus looked to his troops and spoke up in a commanding voice as the Ground Bridge activated. "Autobots, roll out!" With that; Optimus, Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee ran through the swirling vortex in search of their comrade.

As they passed through the ground bridge, the team looked around and saw large crystals that glowed with a soft blue light sticking out of the walls and ground. "Looks like an energon deposit, and a big one from the looks of it." Bulkhead spoke up when he saw the large number of Energon crystals. Optimus looked around and activated a blaster which resembled a large silver revolver in his left arm and a long war sword that glowed red along the edge in his right arm before speaking up in a slightly hushed tone.

"Autobots, recon the area, search for Cliffjumper." With that, they began the search for their fallen brother in arms. As they were walking, Arcee began thinking about Jack and how she wished that he could have met Cliffjumper when the ground began to rumble, suddenly a large drill broke out of the wall of the cave and a patrol of Decepticons walked out behind the drill.

The Decepticons saw the team and opened fire, Arcee was suddenly filled with rage and ran at the squad of drones with her blasters firing; Optimus and the others began firing their blasters as well and as Arcee reached the group of Cons, she extended her wrist blades and began hacking the enemy troops without mercy. The Cons numbers quickly fell under the rage of the blue femme and when she reached the last one she flipped over the Decepticon and freed his head from its shoulders in a single swipe.

As she landed she ran down the tunnel followed by the rest of the team when they reached a large shaft with a large energon deposit in the center, the Autobots took cover and opened fire on the Decepticons as they searched the area for Cliffjumper. Arcee was looking around with a wild look in her optics when she saw a limp body with a red paint scheme and one horn on the helm. 'Cliff!'

Arcee suddenly felt as though there was still hope for her partner and she spoke up to Optimus and the team. "I've got visual on Cliff!" Optimus followed Arcee's sight and soon saw the Autobot partner they had feared lost for so long. "Arcee, get Cliffjumper out of there, we will lay down covering fire!" Arcee didn't have to be told twice, she ran up the platforms of the shaft, blasting away at Decepticons as she made her way to Cliffjumper's prone body.

It was painfully obvious that Cliffjumper was badly injured and as she approached him. Arcee saw that Cliffjumper was covered in some sort of purple liquid and suddenly the platform he was on began to collapse. She jumped in the nick of time and grabbed Cliffjumper's hand before trying to pull him up. "Let's get you home Cliff." Arcee felt a glimmer of hope as she saw him begin to move his head, but that hope turned into terror when he looked her in the face.

His eyes glowed with an unnatural bright purple glow and his face was like a mindless animal. She lost her grip as Cliffjumper let out a savage growl and he went plummeting to the ground below. Optimus looked up to see Cliffjumper falling and when Optimus heard the loud crash of Cliff hitting the ground, he looked up to see Arcee staring down at what was likely her partners body as she had energon tears running down her face.

She suddenly ran down to Optimus and the team and Optimus knew she was deeply pained as she let out a savage war cry and started hacking at Decepticons with her blades. She carved a path of destruction straight to Optimus and the other Autobots. She reached the team and at that point, a jet could be heard and just a moment later, Starscream landed at the top of one of the platforms with something in his hands.

"Prime, I should've known you would try to interfere here; of course I can't just let you have all of this energon now can I?" With that Optimus looked to the object in the hand of the Decepticon SIC and recognized what it was with a look of urgency in his eyes. He was about to speak up when Starscream spoke up once more. "Well then, I'll be leaving; I'd stick around but I'm feeling…squeamish."

With that Starscream dropped the device in his hand and transformed into his jet form as he flew up the shaft and out of the mine. "Autobots, transform and roll out, back to the arrival coordinates now!" With that, the Autobots transformed and hit maximum overdrive and Arcee adjusted her mirrors to see behind her, suddenly there was a flash of light as what was clearly a detonation charge blew up the large deposit of energon in the large shaft.

'Scrap!' Arcee was sure every member of the team was thinking the exact same thing when she suddenly heard Optimus over the roar of the incoming explosion. "Ratchet, activate the ground bridge at the arrival coordinates now!" With that, Arcee and the team saw a green vortex open up about a mile ahead of them and they poured on all the speed they could and within five seconds they reached the ground bridge and drove into the base just in time for Ratchet to close the bridge right behind them.

"Well, any news of Cliffjumper?" Ratchet spoke up when he turned around from the ground bridge controls and suddenly, all optics were on Arcee. She turned away and spoke up in a weak tone. "It wasn't Cliffjumper, not anymore…" With that she suddenly fell to the ground and Ratchet ran up to her side and brought her over to a large stack of crates. She sat down as Ratchet did a scan of her systems to search for anything out of place.

"Everything seems to be working." Ratchet seemed a bit perplexed but suddenly became curious when the sensor detected a strange substance on Arcee's body. He traced the signature and found a purple liquid on her left arm and raised it up to get a better look at it. "Arcee, do you know anything about this?"

As Arcee looked to her left arm to see the purple substance, she remembered the puddle of purple liquid that was surrounding Cliffjumper's body as she spoke up. "I'm not sure what it is Ratchet, Cliffjumper was covered in the stuff; leaking it even." With that, Ratchet walked over to a large medical tray and picked up a large robot sized scalpel and scraped a sample of the substance off of Arcee before raising it up to look at it.

"Arcee, go take a decontamination bath." With that, Arcee walked out of the control center to the purification chamber as Ratchet walked up to his microscope and placed the substance on a slide for examination. As Arcee sat in the purification chamber's energon bath, her thoughts wandered to Cliffjumper and the look on his face before she lost her grip. 'He didn't even recognize me; he was just a shell…' Arcee suddenly realized that she had energon tears going down her face. Arcee suddenly thought of one person, 'Jack…Primus I need you back.'

Okay, I decided to change the order of things from the actual series to give the story a bit more emotion. Figured it would be better if I tried it out. Anywho, read and review; i'll get the next chapter up soon. :)


	12. Chapter 12

Ch. 12

Two years later:

 _We see a young man in his early twenties standing at attention on a stage; to his right speaking to the large crowd before them is General Austin Miller, and to his left is his instructor. He had finally made it to the top of the heap and he stood proudly as the General walked in front of him and placed the young man's new rank on the lapels of his ASU before speaking up. "Congratulations son, you made it to the end and came out on top." With that, the General gave a crisp salute and the young man returned it. The General dropped his salute and as the young man dropped his, he looked down at the silver eagles that now rested on his chest._

 _Meanwhile, in California, we see another man wearing a Marine Corps class A. He is standing at attention as he is given his new ranks. Marine Corps General Thomas Patton II walked forward and placed the ranks on the lapels of the black and red uniform before stepping back and speaking up. "Congratulations Sergeant Major." With that, the Sergeant Major snapped off a crisp salute as he let a single thought run through his head. 'I did it; I proved everyone wrong, everyone who said I couldn't do it… I proved them wrong.'_

Arcee was driving across the dirt of the Nevada desert about twenty miles north of Jasper. After the incident with Cliffjumper two years ago, she had been doing this quite often; she would drive out to the desert to be alone with her thoughts. Many times she would just drive as fast as she could and take her emotions out on the dusty ground.

Other times she would go up to the top of the base at night and stargaze like she had done with Jack before he left, and other times she just sat in her quarter's and let herself cry, hoping that time would go by faster so she could be with Jack again. Arcee was walking in her robot mode deep in thought; she was in her own painful world.

She thought back to the night before Jack had left and the special moment they had shared together:

 _Jack had walked into Arcee's quarters alongside his blue femme and turned when he heard the door shut and lock. Jack looked up to see Arcee smiling down at him as they both walked up to her birth. Jack learned an interesting fact about Cybertronians; they actually sleep with blankets like a human would._

 _Jack walked up the steps she had beside her berth and settled down beside Arcee as she was already under the blanket. They sat there for a moment simply at peace in each other's embrace. After a few moments of peaceful silence, Arcee looked down at Jack who in turn looked up at her. "You okay Cee?" Arcee loved it when Jack used his nick name for her._

 _"Yes Jack, you don't need to worry about me." She finished that with a giggle. Jack loved it when Arcee allowed herself to laugh, it made him feel nothing but joy knowing she was happy. Suddenly, Jack found himself simply staring into Arcee's eyes and Arcee found herself doing the same with Jack. They sat there for a few minutes simply staring into each other's eyes._

 _Suddenly, Arcee felt as though her insides were heating up; she did a discreet analysis of her systems and found that her spark was heating up and pulsing very quickly and her energon stores were heating up. 'Oh Primus, am I getting turned on by this?' Jack was feeling very similar to Arcee, he felt himself getting very hot; he suddenly felt as though there was some primal urge calling for him to do something._

 _Jack suddenly realized what was happening. 'Oh crap, it's my hormones again; this is no time for a midnight fling Jack, your' only 17!' Suddenly, Jack found himself pinned to the berth by Arcee's metallic lips. She was actually grabbing his body and from the looks of it, she was in the same condition as he was; they were basically two teenagers running on hormones._

 _Jack suddenly brought his hands up and pushed Arcee's hands and head away. Arcee's eyes went wide as she started assuming the worst in her mind. 'Oh scrap, I moved to fast; he's mad and didn't want to do it!' Suddenly Jack sat up and kissed Arcee passionately but simply before pulling away leaving her a bit puzzled; but when Jack started speaking, Arcee paid attention to what he said._

 _"Believe me, I know what you wanted to do Arcee, and I want to do it too." Arcee heard this and spoke up with a confused tone. "Then why did you stop me? We both want it and…" Suddenly, Jack raised a hand for her to stop talking. She stopped just as Jack started speaking again. "Arcee, think about it; I'm seventeen years old, your seventeen mega cycles old, but you've never been in a relationship either; we're basically two teenagers running off the heat of the moment, I don't want our first time to be like that; I want the first time to be special, to mean something."_

 _At this, Arcee realized that Jack was right, it wasn't the right time to try and bond like that. Arcee was thinking again when she was pulled out of her thoughts by Jack's voice. "I want to do it Arcee, but I think we should wait a bit, just until we're both able to think a bit clearer." Arcee smiled at Jack's words, she was amazed at the maturity he showed even in situations like this. And so she nodded and with that they shared one last kiss before falling asleep in each other's arms._

Arcee smiled at the memory of that night; but the thought was interrupted as the area behind her feet exploded and she went flying to the ground about 50 yards away, she turned around to see a black helicopter flying right at her and readied her blasters as she growled out the name of the Decepticon femme flying towards her. "Airachnid!" The dark colored femme transformed in mid air and landed right in front of Arcee.

"Hello Arcee, how's dear sweet Jack been lately?" Arcee was suddenly filled with an uncontrollable rage; she remembered how Airachnid had nearly killed Jack and with all her rage charged at Airachnid with her blasters blazing. She got in close and activated her wrist blades and tried to hack the crazed spiderbot apart, but was unable to as Airachnid used her spider legs to block Arcee's attacks.

Suddenly, Airachnid jumped into the air and landed directly behind Arcee, she gave the blue femme a slash to her upper thigh and when Arcee turned around, she was met with a black boot like, metallic foot to the face plates. Arcee landed on the ground with a hard crash and found Airachnid's foot on her throat as the spiderbot looked down at Arcee with a sadistic smile before speaking up.

"Don't worry so much Arcee; once I'm done here, I might show Jack what a real femme is capable of in a berth, and then I'll send him to be with you at the Well of the Allspark." Arcee knew she couldn't escape the death that was above her and so she closed her optics and gave what she knew would be her final thought. 'Goodbye Jack, I'm sorry…'

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and Arcee's eye's flew open, she saw Airachnid lying on her back about 60 yards away with a look of shock on her face as she looked into the distance behind Arcee; the blue femme turned around and saw what appeared in her data banks as an Apache attack helicopter that belonged to the United States Army.

The chopper suddenly opened fire on Airachnid who in turned transformed into her own helicopter mode and flew right at the American pilot. The Apache suddenly turned tail and started leading Airachnid around in basically a giant circle around Arcee. Airachnid began firing off multiple missiles which the Apache dodged easily. Eventually she ran out of straight line missiles and was left with heat seekers.

The Apache began a steep climb in altitude just as Airachnid fired her missiles, suddenly as the missiles neared the unknown pilot, he flipped the chopper in mid air and flew directly towards Airachnid who was making a fast flight towards the Apache, 'Who is this guy?' Arcee thought to herself as she saw the two helicopters approaching each other. Suddenly Arcee realized that the heat seekers were still chasing the Apache.

The two choppers were getting closer and closer; but suddenly the Apache seemed to flow underneath Airachnid as it flew down and as it began to ascend, it deployed flares. Airachnid must have been focusing on the Apache as she turned just as the Apache deployed his flares. Arcee was looking as the Apache turned just in time to see the heat seekers hit the very Decepticon that had fired them.

'Whoever this pilot is, he's got skill.' Arcee watched as Airachnid transformed just before hitting the ground; the psychotic spiderbot looked up to see Arcee was priming her blasters and the Apache was coming around for another shot. Arcee saw Airachnid begin to drill into the earth with her spider legs and fired off a group of shots; each one hit its mark but Airachnid didn't stop drilling and a few seconds later, Arcee was looking down a hole left by the one femme she wished she could rip the spark out of more than any bot in the universe.

Arcee was brooding over the large whole when she heard a propeller behind her, she turned to see the Apache was low enough for her to see into the cockpit and look right at the pilot. He had a black visor covering his face and she couldn't see his hair as it was covered by a helmet. 'What is he thinking?' Arcee was wondering if it was one of Agent Fowler's boys come to assist her but suddenly she felt as if she knew the pilot in front of her.

Arcee was brought back to the present when the pilot snapped off a crisp salute before bringing the chopper up and flying away. Arcee was a bit shell shocked to say the least as she raised a hand to her helm and activated her communicator. "Arcee to base; Ratchet, you there?" "I'm reading you loud and clear Arcee, what is it?" The rough old medic had a neutral tone as he spoke over the open comm. Line.

"I need a ground bridge, you are not gonna believe what just happened." Not a minute later, Arcee saw the ground bridge vortex open up and she quickly walked through the opening to be greeted by both Ratchet and Optimus. "What has happened Arcee, did you discover something?" Arcee heard a tone of concern in Optimus' voice which she found both endearing and amusing. 'He really is like a father.'

Arcee was always a bit amused when Optimus would check on her constantly like an over protective father would do with his own daughter; but Arcee explained to Optimus how she had been ambushed by Airachnid and was saved by a lone American attack chopper. "It would seem the Allspark is watching over you Arcee." Optimus had a happy as well as relieved smile on his face plates; but the mood changed as Ratchet spoke up.

"Arcee, did the pilot see the ground bridge open up?" Arcee could hear the slightly worried tone in Ratchet's voice which was understandable given that the Autobot's cover might be blown. "No, he had already flown off southeast for a few minutes by the time I called in." This puzzled Ratchet as well as Optimus. Arcee went on to mention how the pilot had come down to her level and saluted her before flying off.

Ratchet seemed as though he were about to speak when there was a sudden beep, Optimus turned to the central console as it was a communications link coming in. 'Probably Fowler, knowing him he probably knows about the pilot already.' Optimus reached the terminal and activated the communications relay. "This is Optimus." "Prime, this is Agent Fowler." Arcee rolled her optics at the rough voice of the old human. 'I knew it.'

Arcee was pulled out of her thoughts as Agent Fowler continued. "I got a bit of a surprise for you and the team. Head up to the top of the base, all of you, even the kids. Fowler out." The three Autobots present were a bit puzzled at the cryptic message, but Optimus called the other Bots to the control center as well as their human charges. Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Miko and Rafael walked up and the yellow scout spoke up. _"What's going on Optimus?"_

The confusion in Bumblebee's voice and on the other's faces was evident as Optimus spoke up. "It seems that Agent Fowler has something for us at the top of the base. Let us go up and see what it is." With that said the group entered the two cargo elevators and a few minutes later they walked out onto the red dirt at the top of the old missile silo that was their base.

They stood there for a few seconds; suddenly they could make out the sound of a helicopter approaching. Arcee's eyes went wide as she had a thought pop up in her head. 'It can't be; is it him?' Suddenly, the very Apache that had saved Arcee flew overhead. Everyone present watched as the helicopter did a barrel roll before spinning around and flying towards the landing pad on the top of the base.

Arcee had her optics glued to the cockpit of the chopper, wondering who it was in the pilot seat. The Apache touched down and the pilot looked over at the group before powering down the engines and moving to the back of the chopper to come out. The pilot didn't appear immediately; but when he appeared, the entire team went wide eyed.

The young man was in a blue Army Service Uniform; decorated with seven rows of ribbons, four medals, a red cord with a golden lance-ending around his left shoulder, and a similar cord colored black wrapped around his right shoulder. On each of the lapels on his chest was a silver eagle and on his right chest pocket, in plain view of the entire team, was a nameplate with the name Darby engraved on it.

"Jack!?" Rafael shouted out loud when he saw him in his uniform, Arcee was so shell shocked at the entire situation. It was only when Jack spoke up that she was brought back to the present. "It's good to be back guys." The smile on Jack's face spread to everyone present, suddenly, Jack locked his eyes with Arcee and walked up to her. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, Jack had changed so much in the five years he had been gone.

When Jack left; he was 5 ft. 9 in. and he weighed around 165 pounds, he was well built for his age and had an air of simplicity about him. Now, Jack was 6ft. 5in. and he weighed an impressive 250 pounds. He had a poised and confident air around him that showed that he was not a kid anymore; he was a soldier, and a force to be reckoned with. Jack suddenly spoke up and Arcee nearly burst at the seams with joy at his words. "How've you been partner?"

YAAAAY! 12 CHAPTERS AND STILL HOLDING STRONG! ^_^ Anywho, I hope everyones enjoying the story so far. :) Read and review, let me know what you think and I will get the next couple of chapters up as soon as I can.


	13. Chapter 13

Hoooooly Scrap! It's been a while since I updated so I won't keep you awesome viewers and reviewers waiting any longer. ONWARD TO THE STORY!

Ch. 13

Jack's return celebration was a simple thing; June Darby was brought to the base and when she saw Jack in his uniform, she burst into tears as she hugged her son. When she regained her composure, she looked Jack over before speaking up with a happy tone. "God, you look so much like your' father." Jack was in his own little world at this time, he was seeing faces that he hadn't seen in five years.

Jack had been happy to know that a new Autobot had reached earth. Another member of the Wreckers named Wheeljack; a great friend to Bulkhead and a serious pain to Ratchet when they played thrash ball inside the control center. He had learned that Miko was enlisted in the Air Force and had been doing physical training and development for the last 4 years.

Rafael hadn't changed much and was a great help to Ratchet in operating and maintaining the internal systems of the base. It was a great time but Jack knew there was one person, or rather one Autobot that Jack wanted to spend some personal time with. He walked out of the control center and walked down one of the halls in the base before stopping at a particular door.

Jack gave a light tap on the door and a few seconds later it opened to reveal an empty room. Jack walked into the room and as he reached the center of the room, the door closed behind him and locked itself. A smile grew on Jack's face as he turned to see Arcee step out of the shadows with a smile on her face as well. With everyone preoccupied and talking to one another, Jack knew no one would come for them unless it was an absolute necessity.

Jack looked into Arcee's eyes as a new smile grew on her face that could only be described by one word: Predatory. Jack gave a smile of his own, knowing exactly what Arcee had in mind. "At least let me change out of my uniform before you attack me Cee." Jack had a happy tone in his voice as he walked over to one of the smaller storage areas in Arcee's quarters and changed into a pair of simple black sweat pants and a black sleeveless shirt.

He walked in and Arcee then had her optics glued to Jack's body. She watched from her berth as Jack walked up the set of steps and sat down next to her. Arcee sat there with one thing on her mind. 'How should I tell him this?' While Jack had been away, Arcee had busied herself in her free time by studying about her own race; which according to the files that were at the base, had come in contact with the human race more than once in the past.

She had discovered, and confirmed with Optimus and Ratchet, that there had been Autobots, and surprisingly even a few Decepticons, in the past that had fell in love with a human and that they were able to spark bond as easily as if they were both Cybertronian. Jack could sense that Arcee had something on her mind that was giving her a bit of pause in their shared time together and so attempted to find out what had his blue lover troubled.

"I'm sensing there's something you want to talk about." Arcee looked up with a smile on her face. 'He's still able to read me after all this time.' "There is, but… I'm not sure how to go about talking about it." Jack could see that she wanted to talk badly about what was on her mind but she couldn't seem to think of a way she felt was safe for her to bring it up in.

"Arcee, you can tell me anything; I'm not gonna run away, I'm not gonna treat you any different then I always have, and I'm not gonna care for you any less." Arcee felt her spark pulse like a live wire at those simple words coming out of Jack's mouth. 'Oh Primus hold me back before I ravage him where he sits!' Jack could see Arcee tense up when he said this and it brought a cocky smirk to his face.

'God almighty; sometimes she's easier to get riled up than Miko used to be.' Suddenly Arcee stood up and walked over to the small circular window that was in her room and looked out at the desert before speaking up. "While you were gone, I did some research about past interactions between humans and Cybertronians." Jack sat up straight at this, he was always interested to learn new things and this was no different.

"Apparently, there have been situations like ours in the past; a Cybertronian and a human falling in love. I did some searching through the files we have about these couples and…" Arcee suddenly looked away from the window, but she didn't look at Jack either. "Apparently they can do … anything and everything that two Cybertronians can do." Jack sat up as he suddenly understood what was worrying his blue lover.

"I'm guessing you found out that a human and a Cybertronian can spark bond with each other." Arcee suddenly went rigid and felt her spark go cold as fear began to penetrate her mind. 'Oh Primus he knows!' Arcee couldn't make herself move and it was only Jack's voice that snapped her out of her thoughts and back to reality as she answered Jack.

"Yes, there are signs that show if the two are capable of doing it and descriptions of what they are capable of doing during the bonding itself." Jack could tell Arcee was struggling to talk about this. Jack hated seeing Arcee troubled like this. "What are the signs that show capability between the two?" Jack hadn't realized he said it until the words were already out of his mouth. 'Damn it! Smooth job there Darby…'

While Jack was worried about his sudden question, Arcee was thinking something totally different. 'Oh Primus! He wants to know, does that mean that he…' Arcee felt another surge of hope fly through her spark chamber. Suddenly, Arcee looked back with a neutral face and spoke as nonchalantly as she possibly could.

"Whenever they touch hands, their palms will glow, the cybertronian will have a glow coming from their chest and the human will have a similar glow in their eyes." Jack could tell that Arcee was much like a young teenage girl who was always worrying; she was self-conscious about herself. 'She thinks she's gonna scare me off.' Jack then decided enough was enough and that he would face this issue head on.

"Arcee, I know where this is leading; I'm not going to run off. If you want to try this, then tell me; I'm not gonna think any different of you." Arcee turned so suddenly that Jack didn't think he had actually seen her move. She had a look on her face plates that was a mix of shock, fear, and for a split second, what Jack thought was pain.

Jack was suddenly worried that Arcee was still worried that she might hurt him in some way; but that idea was thrown out the window when Arcee practically flew across the room and pinned Jack to her berth with her lips. Jack had not been expecting this but he was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of happiness, he was finally back and with the love of his life.

Jack reached up and held the side of Arcee's helm with one hand and as she pulled back, she looked at him with a sense of fear still visible in her cobalt blue eyes. Jack knew she was still worried about what might happen so he held his hand up and waited. Arcee looked over and slowly raised her hand and held her palm against Jack's smaller one.

They waited for a few minutes, but when nothing appeared to happen, Arcee's optics fell slightly and Jack could see energon tears about to fall down her face. Arcee was emotionally distraught. 'We can't do it…' At this, the floodgates began to open and the tears Arcee had been trying to hold back flowed down her face plates. "I'm sorry Jack…" Arcee had a pained voice and Jack felt his heart practically rip at the sound of her voice.

Jack suddenly reached up and wiped the tears from his blue lover's face and raised her face so they were looking each other in the eyes. "Cee, we may not be able to spark bond but I still want to be with you, more than anyone in the world." Arcee perked up slightly at this and when Jack leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on her lips, she practically short circuited from the simple, but unbelievably intense action.

They kissed passionately for a moment before pulling apart with their foreheads touching. Arcee was actually panting slightly and Jack couldn't help but smirk when she spoke to him. "Did I say you could turn me into a puddle of warm energon?" Jack could hear the desire in her voice and the excitement was very much present.

Jack was suddenly having second thoughts on what he said and was thinking of just letting Arcee have her way with him even with the current circumstances. "Arcee, you might just get what you are wanting if you keep using that tone." Jack was starting to heat up and sweat was starting to gather on his skin.

Unbeknownst to him, Arcee knew just what kind of affect she was having on her human; she had adjusted her vision and could see that not only was Jack's body temperature going through the roof, but blood was starting to rush downwards in his body and was starting to engorge an organ both human and cybertronian females are very familiar with in the male anatomy. She readjusted her vision to where it was normal again.

'Oh Primus, damn me to the Pit but I am going to do this!' Arcee suddenly became a blur of motion and suddenly Jack was on his back on Arcee's berth with a very aroused femme straddling him. Jack locked eyes with his femme and they both looked over each other's bodies. Suddenly, their lips collided as they practically ripped Jack's clothes off, and then they couldn't hold each other any closer as they felt each other in a totally new way to them.

OOOOOOOOOOOH SCRAP! Arcee's gettin' a little frisky frisky! Rofl. I wonder just what's in store for our buddy, Jack, tonight! Only time will tell. ;) Anywho, i'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible everyone. Read and review. ROLL OUT!


	14. Chapter 14

OOOOOH DAMN! The morning after Arcee's and Jack's night of Steamy Goodness! Hehehehehehe. Hope everyone likes this next chapter. I'll try to update more often. ONWARD!

Ch. 14

Arcee was the first to wake up and as she looked down at the human sharing her berth, she remembered the night before. 'Primus, that was intense. And he never missed a beat.' She smiled as she looked down at the human lying on his back with his dog tags resting on his well toned chest. She got up and walked over to the window in her room and looked out at the scenery.

It was just before sunrise and there were pink clouds on the horizon, catching the first rays of sunlight from earth's primary star before even she could see the sun itself. Arcee had been so caught up in her gazing that she missed the sound of two human feet walking around in her room and then walking up to the catwalk behind her. "Morning hot-wheels." Arcee turned to see Jack leaning on the side of one of the catwalks overhead with a smile on his face.

Arcee walked over to one of the lower catwalks in the room and waited as Jack came down to her level. They stood there for a moment looking at each other and then closed the gap between them with a kiss. Jack couldn't be happier. 'Primus, could she be anymore perfect?' Jack was brought out of his thoughts as they separated and Arcee spoke up. "Sleep well Jack? Primus knows I did."

Jack smirked as he remembered everything they did the night before. "Best sleep I've had in a long time." Jack smiled as he began to descend from the catwalks to the ground to take a shower in his room that was connected to Arcee's quarters by a small corridor. Arcee waited as Jack got himself cleaned up and when he reappeared, he was clad in nothing more than a black towel around his waist. Arcee watched Jack as he walked to his suitcase.

While Jack was pulling out his ACU, he could feel a pair of cobalt blue eyes looking at his back. 'Who knew Autobots could admire a human physique?' Arcee was looking at the toned muscles in Jack's back as they moved as he pulled out his uniform. Arcee was dragged from that line of thought when the towel fell from around Jack's waist and she saw what she neglected to observe the night before.

'Primus, I wouldn't mind a more in depth observation of that body of his.' Jack pulled on a pair of black briefs that came down to just above his knees and Arcee suddenly saw the striking contrast of the black against Jack's toned muscular body. Jack continued to pull on a pair of socks as well as his ACU bottoms and boots. Jack was about to reach for his undershirt when he felt a long, slender finger run up his back.

Jack hadn't noticed that Arcee had snuck up behind Jack and was inching towards him. Jack couldn't help the affect that Arcee's touch had on him. Jack suddenly felt his head lull to the side and Arcee struck quicker than a bullet. Arcee moved her head forward and latched her metallic lips onto Jack's neck and began applying slight suction. 'Oh shit, is she seriously doing this!?'

Jack felt the belt in his hand fall to the ground as he reached up with a hand and placed it on Arcee's cheek. Jack felt as though he was going to go insane; but as quickly as it began, it was over. Arcee unlatched her lips from Jack's neck, but not before placing a soft kiss on the small love mark left where she had attacked her lover's neck. Arcee stood back up before turning around and walking over to the door to her quarters and leaving Jack with one thought. 'That little Minx, she must have been studying more than she let on!'

Arcee walked down the hall leading to the control center with a smile on her face. 'Mmmmm, sweet as high grade energon.' The thought was rolling through her head as she realized something. 'Aside from the Cons and the war, life is actually pretty good.' Arcee reached the control center and saw Ratchet standing at his usual place hunched over one of the monitors in the large room.

Arcee continued walking and as she reached the old medic, the grouchy old bots' head shot up like a bullet with a look of utter shock on his face. Arcee couldn't help the smirk that crossed her face as Ratchet recognized the scent that Arcee was giving off. 'OH PRIMUS! DID SHE AND JACK ACTUALLY…!' At that moment Optimus walked in and soon was in a similar state as the Autobot medic.

The surprise was obvious on the Prime's faceplates but when he saw the smile on Arcee's face, Optimus found himself smiling as well. "I trust you slept well Arcee?" Optimus had a tone that said, 'I know what you did and I'm okay with it.' Arcee smiled up at her leader and was about to answer when the three Autobots heard a pair of human footsteps coming toward them.

Arcee felt her spark pulse as she saw Jack in an entirely new light as he walked in wearing an ACU, or what humans called the Army Combat Uniform. The sleeves came down to his wrists and were wrapped tightly. He had a haircut that was referred to as a 'High-and-Tight.' Jack walked up and climbed up to the catwalks before getting his day started. "So, what's on today's agenda Optimus?"

At this everyone seemed to snap out of their shock induced states and happy thoughts. "Ratchet has discovered what appears to be an untapped energon source; I need you and Arcee to go to the coordinates and see if we've found a significant amount or not." With this, Jack ran for the cargo elevator and rode up to the top as Arcee prepared to go through the ground bridge.

Arcee walked through the bridge and found herself in an area with tree's and red clay ground. 'Why do I feel like I've been here before?' Arcee continued walking and soon reached a cliff; as she looked down she saw a large crater that had black marks all over large rock formations. Arcee looked for a few more seconds before a sense of dread came over her. 'This is where Cliff was caught…'

Arcee was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she was hailed through her comm. Link. "Arcee, it's Jack; I got a visual on you. Anything down there we can bring back to base?" Arcee looked up to see Jack's Apache flying overhead. "That big crater down there used to be an energon deposit. There might be some smaller deposits nearby but I can't see anything from here."

There was a slight pause between the two of them as they continued to search for the hidden energon source. Arcee couldn't help but let her thoughts drift to the last time she was here. 'Cliff…I'm sorry.' "Arcee, talk to me, what's on your' mind?" Jack's voice was soft and concerned. 'How did he know how I felt?' Arcee was hesitant about talking about Cliff but she did want to trust Jack. "Is it about Cliff?"

Jack spoke once again in a soft voice as he brought Arcee out of her inner struggle. "I can't help but think of him now that we're here…" Jack was flying overhead looking down as he saw Arcee walking through the woods. He felt pained knowing he couldn't be down there with her when she was in obvious emotional pain. "Arcee, whatever it takes, I'm here for you."

Arcee couldn't help but smile at this. 'Just like 'Wolf,' he cares so much about others…' Jack was waiting for Arcee to respond. 'Let it out Cee…' "Thank you Jack." The words shocked Jack to his core. 'I was expecting something between anger and sadness.' Suddenly, Jack looked down as the radar in his cockpit detected a group of signatures heading in Arcee's direction. "Arcee, you got contacts heading right at you, eyes up!"

Arcee suddenly turned with her blasters primed aiming at the unknown contacts. Arcee stood completely still, eyes glued in one direction, while Jack circled over head watching the tracks on his radar. 'What are they up too?' Jack waited as the tracks began to move slowly towards Arcee. Arcee suddenly heard a group of bots speaking to each other. She dropped down into one of the large groups of bushes as the group came into view.

"Jack, we got Con's; they're carrying energon somewhere." Jack heard Arcee as she whispered to keep from being detected. As soon as he saw the group of Vehicons, he felt a pent up rage as he remembered who these bots followed. Suddenly, Jack flew into action flying right at the small group of Decepticons. "Time for 'the Ripper' to come out…"

O_O" Oh scrap... Jack The Ripper is fixin' to go on an all out Rampage. What's gonna happen next? I'll get the next chapter up soon so you all can find out. Farewell until then. :)


	15. Chapter 15

Ch. 15

Arcee suddenly froze in place as she saw Jack flying right at the group of Vehicons. 'Jack what the frag are you doing!?' Jack suddenly opened fire on the group, catching them completely by surprise. Jack aimed at the energon being carried by the Decepticon shock troopers. Suddenly, he hit a shard of the blue crystals causing them to erupt in a flash of blue light. "Arcee, I'll distract them, head in to the area they came from and try and find the energon!"

At this, Arcee sprung into action as she ran through the woods to search for the energon in question. Arcee ran for a few minutes, keeping her optics leveled onto the sensor in her hand as it began to alarm, alerting her that the energon was nearby. "Where is it?" Suddenly, Arcee looked up to see her objective. "Holy Primus, this is the fragging jackpot!"

Looking down in a large crater, she saw an enormous energon deposit, easily large enough to power a space bridge. "Jack, we just hit the mother load!" Arcee stood there looking at the energon for a moment. "Jack, come in; can you hear me?" Arcee then heard a large explosion come from behind her. She looked back and then, the realization hit her. "Jack!" She flicked over to another comm. channel and spoke once more.

"Ratchet, we need the team here now! We got Con's and a lot of energon!" At that moment, the ground bridge appeared and out of the green vortex came the rest of the team, led by Optimus. "Optimus, Jack's taking on the Con's that way!" Arcee pointed in the direction of the blaster fire and explosions. Suddenly, two aerial Vehicons flew overhead, followed by an Apache attack chopper with blazing guns.

Arcee and the rest of the Autobots watched as Jack shot down one of the Vehicons and blew the other one into scrap with a pair of missiles. "That should be the last of the Cons Arcee; we should have a clean grab at the energon." Jack began to fly in a circle overhead as Optimus now spoke up through the open comm. channel. "Jack, this is Optimus, we will begin bringing the energon back to base. Can you keep watch from above?"

"Got it covered Prime, the Cons want this energon, they'll have to come through me." The vicious tone in Jack's voice had everyone slightly on edge at his intense anger. But Arcee spoke up now, getting everyone's attention. "Stay safe Jack, watch your' six up there." With that said, the Autobots began carrying the crystallized energon through the ground bridge at a slow but steady rate. Arcee had just brought another pile of energon into the base and was about to go back for another pile when she looked up at Jack's chopper flying overhead. 'Something's wrong…'

"Optimus, I'm gonna climb up to that cliff and keep watch with Jack, something's got him agitated and I need to talk with him." Optimus looked over at Arcee and acknowledged her before returning to the task at hand. Arcee reached the top of the cliff quickly as she was a natural climber with her slim build and opened up her comm. link to the private channel she shared with Jack. "Jack, it's me. You okay?"

Arcee looked outwards at the area as she spoke through the channel. Arcee waited for a few moments hoping for an answer, when she received none, she spoke up once more. "Jack, talk to me. What's wrong?" Arcee looked at the helicopter flying overhead hoping that Jack would answer. A few more tense moments of silence passed by before Jack finally spoke up. "I'm fine… I guess I was just…"

Arcee could hear what amounted to disappointment in Jack's voice as he spoke. "You just what? Talk to me." Arcee waited as she scanned the horizon for any sign of Decepticons. "I guess… I'm just disappointed that it was just foot soldiers out here…" This time, instead of disappointment, Arcee heard a disturbing combination of sadness and rage in Jack's voice. 'He's still out for Megatron's head…'

Arcee began to wonder just how much Jack hated the Decepticon warlord as she spoke up once more. "Jack, even if Megatron was here, what would you have done? He's got an aerial based alt form and he's just as deadly in the air as he is on the ground." Arcee hated that the Decepticons had this affect on her human, but when her thoughts were cut off when Optimus spoke up through a separate channel. "Arcee, Jack; we've finished bringing the energon to the base. We're pulling back to base."

With that said, Arcee was about to speak when Jack answered the Prime. "Copy that Optimus; we'll head back to base." Arcee looked up to see Jack's chopper begin to fly in the direction of the base at a brisk speed. 'He better be ready to talk when we get back to base.' With that thought, Arcee scaled down the cliff and walked through the ground bridge into the Autobot base to wait for Jack.

Boy, Jackson Darby is out for some serious payback for what happened to his dad. Coming up next: Jack and Arcee have a heart to 'spark' talk. ;)


	16. Chapter 16

Oh there's gonna be some good content in this chapter I think. :) Anywho, on to the story.

Ch. 16

Jack looked ahead as he flew back towards the Autobot base; he was not in the best mood after the encounter with the Decepticons. 'Megatron, where are you!?' Jack had hoped that he would find Megatron so he could get a good idea of what he would be up against. 'You can hide behind your' troops all you want Megatron, but I will find you. And I swear on my father's grave, I will blow your' spark to scrap.'

Jack flew for a few more moments in silent rage as he was now about 10 miles away from the base. Jack powered up the long range communications and spoke into the comm. channel of his headpiece. "Optimus, it's Jack; I'm about 10 miles from base. I'll be there shortly." "Understood Jack, and on a side note…" Jack could hear Optimus lower his voice as he spoke up once more.

"You might want to prepare yourself, I sense Arcee will want to speak with you when you arrive." Jack understood this; he had left without giving much thought to what he and his lover had been talking about. 'This'll be interesting.' "Alright Optimus, I'll be there in a moment. Jack out." As Jack had been flying, he had flown another good 6 miles, and could now see the base in the distance. "Might as well get to the base quick, don't want to keep Arcee waiting. And with that, Jack poured on the speed and landed on the helipad within the next two minutes.

As Jack stepped out of the Helicopter into the daytime air, he walked over to the edge of the cliff. He stood close to the burial marker that had been set in place for Cliffjumper. As Jack look out over the barren red sands of Jasper, he can't help but feel an overcoming peace at the simple beauty held by the landscape. 'What I would do to have this kind of peace all the time…'

Jack was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he failed to hear the cargo elevator open; he did however hear the metallic footsteps approaching. 'Looks like it's time for that talk.' Jack turned around expecting to see Arcee standing behind him, but was surprised to see that it was Optimus rather than the blue femme Jack had been expecting. "Optimus, is something wrong?"

Jack kept a cool tone as he watched as the Prime kneeled down on one knee, effectively bringing him down to almost half the height he was while standing up. "Truthfully Jack, I came up here to ask you that very question." Jack was somewhat taken back at this, he had been expecting something along the lines of a speech about not running head first into a fight.

Instead, Optimus was concerned with Jack's feelings. 'I need to show that I can trust the team…' "It's… well it's me Optimus." Optimus, for the first time since Jack had met him, now looked quite confused. "What is it about you that has you troubled Jack?" Jack looked away from Optimus to look out at the red sands of Jasper once more.

"When me and Arcee first got to the coordinates of the energon signature… I felt fine; but when I saw the Decepticons, I… I felt like I wasn't myself anymore. All I felt was rage, and when I started attacking them I couldn't stop… I didn't want to stop…" Optimus could hear the pain and confusion in Jack's voice.

"Jack, it was the Decepticons that took your' father from you and your' mother; you have only seen them now for the first time since your' encounter with Airachnid." The mention of the demented spider-bot who nearly ended his life sent an unearthly chill down his spine as he remembered the look in her eyes as she was about to add Jack to her collection.

"That's just it Optimus, I let my anger control me the entire time, I couldn't control myself…" Jack hated that he allowed himself to lose control of his emotions. He was normally capable of restraining himself in even the most difficult of situations. So when he lost control, it agitated him; it disheartened him. "Jack, you lost control, but you are repentant of that fact; it is this quality about you that makes you different from the Decepticons, and it is that quality that makes you an Autobot. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Jack looked up at Optimus with a look of relief and renewed peace on his face. 'He sounds like dad…' "Thank you Optimus." Optimus gave a smile to the young soldier and looked back towards the door of the elevator. "Now then, I think it's time you and Arcee had that talk." With that, Optimus stood up and he and Jack entered the elevator to descend into the base.

Leave it to Optimus to bring light to the dark times for his fellow Autobots. :) I'll get the next chapter up soon. Until then, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! ;)


	17. Chapter 17

Ch. 17

The next morning, Jack woke up once again in a state of undress with a certain blue femme beside him. He looked up at her with a deep smile and clambered out of bed to take a shower and get dressed for the day. Jack entered the personal shower in his quarters and turned on a steady blast of warm water. As he stepped under the flow he thought of everything that had happened in the past few years.

He had discovered the truth about his father, joined the military; in which he became one of the youngest full bird colonels in the history of Fort Benning, and had fallen in love with a soldier of an entirely different kind. 'Primus my life has escalated quickly.' As Jack finished his shower, he stepped out with a towel around his waist as he looked into the fogged up mirror.

'What the heck?' Jack wiped away the condensation on the mirror and looked at his reflection. "What the!?" Jack saw in his reflection a pair of dark blue eyes that had a cyan glow to them. Jack quickly got dressed before running out and heading straight for the control room. "Ratchet, I think we may have an issue." Ratchet was currently looking at the latest system update of the base when he turned to see Jack running towards him.

"What is it Jack, something happen with... WHAT IN PRIMUS' NAME!?" Ratchet saw Jack's eyes glowing with a blue light similar to that of a cybertronian. Jack soon found himself in the med bay with Raf standing next to him, the young boy assisting Ratchet, as everyone began to file into the med bay to see what was happening. "Jack, what's going on; why are your' eyes glowing?"

Miko's tone was calm and collected as she spoke. 'God it's weird hearing her so calm…' "I don't know, I woke up and went to take a shower and when I looked in the mirror, my eyes were glowing." Jack looked over to see Arcee standing rigid with a slightly worried look on her face plates as she looked from Jack over to Optimus. "Ratchet, have you found any indication of what has caused this change in Jack?"

Ratchet turned to Optimus with a confused look on his face plates. "No, it doesn't make any sense Optimus, according to the scan I did of Jack's body, there doesn't seem to be any anomalies." "Uh Ratchet, that's not entirely correct…" Everyone looked at young Rafael as he spoke up. "I did a blood test on Jack to look for anything out of place, and… I found this."

Raf typed on his laptop for a few seconds before a set of data appeared on the monitor. At first everyone looked over it for something when Ratchet and Optimus gasped almost in unison. "By the Allspark; Optimus, is this even possible?" Ratchet had a bewildered look on his face as he spoke to his commander. "I am afraid that I myself do not know how this has come to happen."

Jack listened as Optimus' voice was a combination of confusion and concern. "Optimus, what is going on? What's wrong with Jack?" Jack looked over to see Arcee had a look of fear on her face that had Jack on edge. "Yeah, what did Raf find that has you and Ratchet so concerned?" Miko also had a slightly worried tone as she stood next to Rafael.

"According to the data supplied by Rafael, there are some substantial traces of Energon in Jack's blood." Everyone looked at Optimus as though he had just told them that he had defected from the Autobots. _"How could Jack have energon in his body? Only Cybertronians have energon."_ Bumblebee spoke up with a puzzled tone. Bulkhead soon spoke up as well.

"Could it have something to do with when Jack blew up Airachnid's ship? He did come in contact with the energon it was leaking didn't he?" Bulkhead's sudden insight was short lived as Ratchet spoke up. "Jack did in fact come in contact with the energon from Airachnid's ship, but I doubt that the effects of simply coming into contact with energon would have this affect, even on an organic life form."

"Yeah, and that was years ago anyways, if it did have something to do with the energon, the affects would have happened a lot quicker." Jack spoke up as he realized that the time lapse between the incident and the discovery of his eyes was too large to have any connections. "Could it be from ingestion of energon?" The sudden words from Arcee shocked everyone, some for different reasons then others.

"And how or why for that matter would Jack have ingested energon?" The words from Ratchet were somewhat agitated. "Jack, last night; didn't you…" The sudden realization from Arcee's words hit Jack like a ton of bricks. 'I must have swallowed some of her energon when I broke the skin on her neck!' "Bumblebee, Bulkhead; please take Miko and Rafael outside for a moment."

Optimus spoke up as he looked between Jack and Arcee, suddenly piecing together what happened. "Got it Optimus; Bee, come on, let's take a drive with the kids." With that, the small group left the med bay leaving Optimus, Ratchet, Arcee and Jack alone. "Jack, Arcee; I sense that this may have something to do with your' recent increase in… activities."

At Optimus' words, Arcee looked down with what amounted to a blush for a cybertronian. Jack could obviously see that she was unable to speak and so decided to explain the situation to Optimus and Ratchet. "Things got a bit heated last night Optimus." With that Jack began with how Arcee and Jack had bit into each other's necks, breaking the skin in the process.

"If Jack was able to break the skin on Arcee's neck, it is possible that a small amount of energon found its way into Jack's mouth." Optimus spoke up in a neutral tone that was soon followed by a response from Ratchet. "Optimus, you should take a look at this." With that, Ratchet enhanced the image on the monitor. "I took the liberty of looking deeper into the sample of Jack's blood.

It seems that the energon is actively replacing the blood in Jack's body. We need to do a scan to see what affect this might have on the rest of his body." With that, Optimus contacted Jack's mom asking her to come and do a scan of Jack's body. Ratchet began analyzing what he could of Jack to see if the energon was having any negative effects on Jack when a very worried looking June Darby walked into the Med Bay.

"What's happened to Jack this time?" "Jack has inadvertently ingested a small amount of energon that is now multiplying and replacing his blood cells." Optimus spoke up with a calm voice. As soon as the words left the Prime's mouth, June became a blur of motion as she began running scans and diagnostics on Jack. Ten minutes in, June walked over to look at a small monitor before gasping.

"This is incredible…" June pulled an image showing an internal scan of Jack's body onto the main monitor before speaking. "The energon is altering Jack's major organs while actively multiplying, it's like they're causing Jack to run off energon instead of blood." "Are there any negative effects coming from it?" Jack spoke with a slightly nervous tone.

"No, it's just minor alterations to the organs in your' body. You should be perfectly fine." June's words received a collective sigh of relief from Arcee who the entire time had been standing behind Jack. "Ratchet, call the others back to base and inform them of what has happened. I believe we have harassed Jack and Arcee long enough."

With that said, Jack and Arcee looked at Optimus to find a smile on his face plates. "Arcee, you and Jack may do as you wish. Should we have need of you, we will contact you." With that, Optimus turned away just as a phone started ringing. Jack pulled out his cell phone and answered knowing who it probably was. "Jack Darby here, that you Agent Fowler?"

Arcee looked over as Jack suddenly froze up. "What happened, where are they?" With that, Jack was a blur of motion as he spoke on the phone. "Alright, I'm on my way now; E.T.A. ten minutes. Send me the coordinates." With that Jack hung up the phone before looking over to the others. "Agent Fowler needs me on a recon mission ten miles from here, something's going on but he didn't say what."

With that Jack looked up as Arcee kneeled down before speaking up. "You watch yourself out there Colonel." Jack smiled as he gave Arcee a short kiss before speaking up. "At ease Lieutenant, I'll be back soon." With that said, Jack went up to the helipad and left for his mission. Jack flew to the coordinates given to him by Fowler and was soon flying over what was left of an abandoned mining town that he had been called to.

Jack had been told only that there was possible terrorist activity within the town so he decided to land on the outskirts of the town and approach on foot. Jack found an open clearing and landed before putting on the sneaking suit given to him by Fowler. He finished the outfit by putting on some black and grey face paint.

With everything in check, he grabbed his weapons; which included his katana, a noise suppressed M4-A1, and a .45 Cal. USP. Jack reached one of the outlying buildings of the town and climbed up the side to the roof. He looked around through the scope on his M4 to see nothing but deserted streets. "Something's not right here…"

With that, he activated his ear piece and spoke up. "Agent Fowler, I'm at the abandoned mining town; this place is a dump. It looks completely deserted." "I can guarantee someone's in there Colonel, don't take any crazy risks." With that said, Jack suddenly felt an eerie silence fall over the already quiet town.

"Will, something's not right here; the way this place looks it's the perfect spot for an ambush… All these old buildings here give the perfect cover for people to hide in but it looks like no one's been here in yea,- UGH!" Jack fell forward as a heavy force hit the back of his head. "Son of a AAAAAAAGH!"

Jack suddenly felt the all too familiar sensation of a shock prod pressing into him, he tried to fight it but he soon felt himself falling unconscious. Jack fell forward as his assailants approached. "Jack!? Jack, sit-rep what's going on!?" A group of men in green and black sneaking suits walked up to Jack's limp body as the leader looked down with vicious intent in his eyes.

"The perfect hostage… men, take him to the chopper, we're bringing him back to base." With that, the two troops behind him spoke in unison; "Got it Silas." And with that, Jack was dragged away while Silas looked ahead as he spoke. "Soon, the whole world will know who we are." As the group dragged Jack away, Fowler was going ballistic before he picked up a phone. "This is Agent Fowler; get me a hot line to General Patton!"

Later at the Autobot base:

Arcee couldn't help feeling a sense of dread with Jack gone alone; she knew he wasn't a kid anymore and that he could handle himself in a fight, but she just couldn't shake the feeling of worry that gripped her when Jack left. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this…' No sooner had she let the thought pass through her mind did she here the elevator doors open and a frantic Agent Fowler run into the room.

"Prime, we got a serious problem right now! We lost contact with Jack and it sounded like he ran into trouble!" Arcee suddenly felt her spark freeze over as she heard those words and looked over to her commander as he spoke up. "Where was he when contact was lost?" "He was in an old abandoned mining town about ten miles from here. We had got a tip that there might have been a terrorist group forming there."

With that, Optimus looked to Ratchet. "Ratchet, activate the ground bridge; we're going to find Jack." With that, the Autobots all stood ready as the ground bridge powered up before Agent Fowler spoke up again. "Prime, I've got a special team from the Marines moving towards the town as well, they'll be assisting you in this one; don't worry, they know what's at stake if they say anything."

Optimus looked at the Agent before giving him a short nod and looking back to the open ground bridge. "Autobots, Roll Out!" Arcee was the first one to follow up behind Optimus as they passed through the green vortex and found themselves in the mining town. Optimus and the Autobots looked around for a few seconds with their weapons primed when Optimus spoke up. "Fan out, search for any sign of Jack!"

With that, the team spread throughout the town looking for any sign of their friend. On this occasion, Miko had been allowed to come with the Autobots and was now wearing an Air Force ACU with an ammo harness strapped around her. She was carrying an MP5 and had a Desert Eagle in the holster strapped to her leg. Arcee was frantic as she looked around when she heard Miko call in on her comm. link.

"Optimus, I got something!" Within a matter of seconds, the team had found Miko who was looking out towards the horizon. As the team looked up, they saw a large helicopter flying towards the town. "That's a Marine Corps chopper; it's a Sikorski MH-53 Pave Low." The massive chopper soon hovered overhead and dropped a pair of ropes from its side doors. "They must be the team Fowler was talking about."

Optimus looked briefly at Bulkhead before looking back at the chopper as several humans began to drop down the ropes at an alarming speed. As the last Marine hit the ground, he looked back with a serious face as he walked up to Optimus and the team and spoke up. "Sir; Sergeant Major Michael Grymm; we're here to help you find Jack." At that point, Arcee looked at the human with surprised eyes as Optimus spoke up.

"Do you know Colonel Darby?" The team looked down at Michael who had a grim set face as he spoke. "Yes sir; Jack and I were in the same ROTC platoon at Jasper High School." At that point, Miko went wide eyed as she suddenly spoke with a shocked voice. "Captain Reaper; I didn't expect to see you out here; It's good to see a familiar face out here." Michael looked at the young Japanese airman before he smiled and spoke up.

"Right back at you Miko, but we can chat later; we need to find Jack." With that, Michael turned to his men and shouted in a hardened voice that was all too similar to Jack's. "Fan out Marines; stay frosty!" With that, the Marines and the Autobots spread out into the town as they looked for any sign of Jack. Arcee was walking beside Michael when she heard Michael speak up. "Talk to me Ambrose, what have you got?"

Arcee waited as she looked at Michael before his eyes became as he spoke up again. "Copy that, we're in route to your location." With that, the Sergeant Major looked up and spoke up to the blue femme beside him. "One of my guys found something, have your team meet us at the southern entrance to the town!" With that, Arcee spoke into her comm. piece and informed her team.

As the two teams converged at the southern gate, the found one of the Marines looking at what appeared to be tire tracks leading in one direction. "Looks like someone left here in a hell of a hurry." With that, Arcee looked down closely at the tracks as she passed a scanner over them. "These tracks are almost fresh; they couldn't have gone very far."

The group seemed to agree as they all moved in the direction indicated by the tracks and soon came upon the still burning wreck of Jack's Apache. Arcee felt as if she had just been stabbed through the spark chamber as she fell to her knees. "No…" Miko saw this and quickly began to look around the area, followed closely by one of the Marine squads, hoping to find some sign that Jack was alright.

In the mean time, Bumblebee was standing by Arcee with a hand on her shoulder as Bulkhead looked around the area of the crashed chopper. Optimus came over to the emotionally distraught Arcee and kneeled down in front of her as he spoke. "We will find him Arcee, I promise you now that we will not lose Jack." Optimus then called in through the communications channel to call for a ground bridge when Michael called out. "I got a live one over here!"

The team looked over to see him standing behind a man in a green and black sneaking suit with a trail of blood coming from a gunshot wound on his shoulder. The obviously angered Marine pressed the tip of his gun into the man's neck as Arcee walked up to him with her blades extended and she spoke up with a cold and enraged tone. "Where. Is. Jack?" With that, she pinned the man to the ground and edged her blade towards the man's head.

"Arcee, don't. We can't stoop to their level." Miko spoke up with a calm tone that shocked the team and caused Arcee to look back before retracting her blades and walking away. With that, Optimus decided it would be best to get back to the base. "Ratchet, this is Prime; we need a ground bridge." "Nurse Darby is here, she's been informed of the situation; Wheeljack is here as well. Did you have any luck?"

Optimus couldn't, answer as he watched the back of Arcee as she stood silently. A heavy silence came over the group as the ground bridge opened up. Optimus was about to pull the team back to base when he saw Michael walking towards the wounded soldier; the man was on his knees and the Sergeant Major came up right behind him with a look of silent rage.

The Autobots, as well as the platoon of Marines, saw this and couldn't help but wonder what Michael was planning when he did something that caused every eye in the area to look straight at him. Optimus couldn't find the words as he watched the young human pull up his rifle and shoot the man in the back of the head, causing blood to splatter on the front of his shirt and a few splats covered his face as well.

Everyone watched as the lead Marine began to head for the ground bridge; no one could know his reasoning behind his actions. With that, Optimus finally recomposed himself and spoke up. "Autobots, withdraw." As the group walked through the green vortex, the team seemed to pause as things unfolded. June saw Michael and ran up to him with shocked eyes. "Michael, what happened; where's Jack?"

The team looked at the Marine and suddenly felt the same pain he felt as the Autobots saw a single tear running down Michaels face. June wrapped her arms around the Marine as her own tears began to come down. Wheeljack watched as Miko walked towards the room she currently shared with Bulkhead.

Bulkhead saw this and began to follow his human charge with a grim look on his face plates; Bulk was quickly pulled to the side by Wheeljack who was unsure of what was going on currently. Arcee silently stood in a corner near the couch where Rafael and Miko would normally sit. Optimus saw that the team was struggling heavily with the loss of yet another team mate. Optimus moved towards the cargo elevator and rode it up to the top of the base as he had a single thought. 'Jack…I have failed you my friend; but I promise you, I will find you.'

Oh scrap... Jack's been kidnapped by M.E.C.H! What's he got himself into now? I'll get the next chapter up later so you can find out. Read and review. Until next time my friends. :)


	18. Chapter 18

Ch. 18

Jack woke up to the feeling of cold steel touching his bare skin. He opened his eyes and found himself strapped to a steel operating table that was currently standing in a vertical position that gave him a view of the room he was currently in. He saw several men and women in white coats. 'What the hell is all this about?'

Jack then saw an older man walk up in a sneaking suit similar to his own. The man in question had a scar over his left eye and a smirk on his face. "Ah, Colonel Darby; I trust you had a good rest?" Jack heard this and couldn't help the snide comment that followed. "Yeah, I caught myself a nice little nap on this revolving bed of yours."

Silas seemed to find this amusing as he decided to introduce himself. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Silas, commander of this group; you will come to know us as M.E.C.H." With that, one of the men wearing white lab coats walked up and spoke. "Commander, we're ready to begin the procedure."

Silas seemed to be pleased as his smirk grew all the more sinister. "Very well, sedate him but keep him awake. I wouldn't want him to miss the history that he will soon be a part of." Jack heard this and couldn't help but wonder just what the heck they had planned for him. "Just what are you planning Silas?"

Silas turned to look at Jack with the same smirk he had been wearing this entire time and spoke up with a very sinister tone. "We're going to help you Colonel Darby; you see, we are going to make you invincible; but first we are going to have to destroy the body you have now. You see Colonel; you are going to be the first of a new breed of super soldier, both human and machine. You will be rivaled by no one. Well except for your' large friends."

Jack suddenly began to put the pieces together and the realization began to sink in. 'Oh Primus, they're gonna turn me into a Cybertronian!' With that realization, the steel table he was on began to recline backwards and Jack soon found himself staring up into a bright surgical spot light. He suddenly felt a small prick in his left arm.

He looked up just in time to see a syringe come out of his arm; Jack tried to speak but he suddenly felt as if his entire body was as heavy as lead. He then heard a voice speak up. "Beginning the first stage of Project Jackknife." Jack was only able to watch as surgeons and scientists in surgery scrubs surrounded him.

He suddenly felt another needle plunge into his arm; it burned like hell as Jack suddenly felt as though fire was pouring through his arm. Soon after the injection given to Jack so that his heart wouldn't explode and Jack wouldn't die from the pain he was about to endure, the scientists began to wheel Jack into a large open room.

'If these guys think I'm gonna talk, then they're out of their god damned minds. I've been through worse than water boarding. He suddenly watched as a female nurse came up and began drawing lines on Jack's chest, arms and legs. She seemed to have a conflicted look on her face as she suddenly spoke up.

"Should he really be awake for this? We could have him fully sedated in no time at all." Jack then heard a deep silence before the nurse nodded and walked away. Jack soon found himself watching his surroundings as an array of needles was lowered down to where they were mere inches away from his body.

He could hear the sound of buttons being clicked and dials being turned and was suddenly brought back to his situation when he saw that the needles were actually syringes. 'This is gonna be a total clusterfu-" Jack was unable to complete this thought as the needles then burrowed into Jack's skin; stabbing into skin and bone; into his skull, arms, legs, and chest.

Jack felt as though he was being pumped with lava. Holy hell did it hurt like nothing he had ever experienced. Silas watched from a catwalk above as Jack was injected with a large quantity of calcium, iron, and potassium so that he would survive what Silas had in store. The injections were directly into the bones and lasted for about 3 minutes.

Soon after the needles retracted from Jack's body and to his surprise, very little blood was coming out of the wounds. 'Primus I'm glad that's over…' Jack soon felt as though he was about to eat those words as the doctors began to connect him to a very large machine. Silas watched and gave off commands as the final preparations of Project Jackknife were being handled. Prime the cellular remodeler; prepare for the final stage of the project."

With that, several scientists moved over to monitors and began typing in codes as schematics and signatures came up. "All systems go for transformation sir." Jack suddenly felt a sense of fear overtake him as he looked up at the ceiling. "Prepare yourself Colonel, you're about to go down in unrecorded history as the first of a new species. Commence transformation!"

And with that, the large machine began to hum and vibrate, as energy was shot into Jack's body. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Jack had never felt this kind of pain before in his life. It was worse than the needles by a hell of a ways. Jack suddenly heard a tearing noise as he saw his skin begin to reshape into metal and he began to grow at an alarming rate. Jack's vision suddenly went completely white as he heard himself cry out in bloody fucking agony as the transformation of his body was nearly completed.

Meanwhile, at the Autobot base,

"Optimus, I've picked up a Cybertronian life signature, it's not showing either Autobot or Decepticon though." Optimus looked over to the monitor at the blue life signature that was read out on the screen. "Where did it come from Ratchet?" The medic in question looked at his leader with a perplexed look on his face plates.

"I can't be certain Optimus, it just appeared out of nowhere." With that, the entire team began to file into the room as they had all heard the commotion. "Optimus, what's going on?" Arcee spoke up in a confused tone much like the one Ratchet was previously speaking in. "A Cybertronian life signature has appeared and we are going to find out who it is. Ratchet, activate the ground bridge and prep the med bay. We may need it when we return."

With that, the team; including Miko and Wheeljack ran through the bridge and found themselves in what appeared to be a large hallway. Each was wondering where they were when they heard an energon freezing cry come from further inside the base. _"What the frag was that!?"_ Bumblebee had never heard that kind of cry of pain, even during the war.

"I don't know, but something tells me we'll find out sooner or later." Arcee had a neutral tone as she and the team activated their weapons. Miko pulled out her M4 as well when a hail of gunfire erupted from in front of the team, Miko used a few large crates as cover as she saw something that made her blood freeze.

"Optimus, these are the same guys that were at the town where Jack was taken!" Optimus and the team suddenly went wide eyed as they realized that their lost comrade might be in the vicinity. With that, Miko began to snipe the soldiers to thin them out as Arcee ran forward and grabbed a retreating scientist and then ran back to cover with the team.

For a time it was a stale mate as the M.E.C.H forces were able to hold off the Autobots until Miko threw a grenade cluster at the group. With the soldiers now reduced to grease stains on the floor. Optimus walked up to Arcee and looked at the scientist before speaking. "Where is Jackson Darby…?"

Back in the machine room

Jack's vision came back and he brought his hand to his head when his eyes suddenly snapped open. He looked at his hand and found it to look a lot like Optimus' hand. Jack soon sat up and saw that he was now at least 25 feet tall and now outweighed the scientists and troops around him by at least three tons.

Jack suddenly looked at one of the troops and smiled. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me." And with that, Jack swiped the soldier into a wall before running as gunfire erupted from all around him. Jack didn't stop as he continued to run down one of the large hallways. He soon heard a large speaker go off as a voice came in and rang throughout the base.

"Warning, all units; Project Jackknife is loose. Locate and recapture protocols are in effect; all shoot to kill protocols are restricted." Jack suddenly stopped in a large room to take a break and assess the situation he was currently in. "Looks like the cats out of the bag." Jack suddenly saw something from the corner of his eye.

He looked down to see a data disk that had the words 'Project Jackknife' written on it. "Better take this just in case I need to explain what happened to me." With that, Jack grabbed the disk and looked around on his chest. He had seen Bulkhead open up a storage compartment on his chest to take out Miko's guitar in the past; Jack soon found the compartment and placed the data disk inside, Jack then turned around and found himself at the end of a blade, literally.

Back with the Autobots

The scientist was in a death grip and didn't want to die so he decided to answer Optimus' question. "He's somewhere in the base, Silas was gonna use him for some big experiment, wanted to try and get on a level playing field with you things." With that, Optimus seemed sated with the answer as well as Arcee who then placed the terrified scientist back on the ground as he ran like the devil was on his heels.

"Wheeljack, move further into the base, see if you can find the Cybertronian, we will search for Jack." With that, Wheeljack ran into the base with his twin swords drawn. Wheeljack continued running as he began to think about the situation. "I pity the idiot that hurt Arcee's human; if she finds them, they're gonna wish they had never taken Jack in the first place."

Wheeljack turned a corner as he heard a speaker overhead go off. "Warning, all units; Project Jackknife is loose. Locate and recapture protocols are in effect; all shoot to kill protocols are restricted." Wheeljack heard this as he rounded another corner before hearing another voice around the next bend. "Looks like the cats out of the bag."

Wheeljack drew to a stop at the corner as he peaked around to see a silver trimmed bot that was a little taller than he was. He saw the bot look around when it seemed to see something. 'What are you doing here anyways?' Wheeljack thought to himself as he watched the bot pick up what looked like a data disk.

The bot studied it for a moment before it seemed to come to a decision. Wheeljack slowly and stealthily began to move towards the bot that must have been Jackknife when the bot placed the data disk into the storage compartment on his chest. As Wheeljack was now behind the bot, he placed one of his swords a few inches from Jackknife's head.

As the bot turned to see who was behind him a look of shock appeared on his face plates. "What are you doing here?" Jackknife couldn't find the words as he only seemed to stare at Wheeljack like he had seen him before. 'Primus why does this bot seem so familiar?' With that, blasting could be heard nearby that caught both bots' attention.

Wheeljack looked behind him to realize that the sounds of energon blasters were getting close and that the team was getting close to his position. "Listen, me and some friends are looking for a human named Jack, might've been taken here. Have you seen him anywhere's?" Jackknife began to nod and so Wheeljack decided to try and find out where the lost comrade was when the team came around the corner. "Jackie, you find the bot yet?" Bulkhead got his answer as he looked over to his brother in arms. But when Jackknife saw the rest of the team, his eyes were glued to one bot in particular. And when she looked at him, he froze solid as he looked at her. "Arcee…"

Oh Scrap! Things is about to get interesting as heeeeeck! Well, you know the drill: Read and review and i'll get the next chapter up as quick as I can. ^_^


	19. Chapter 19

Ch. 19

As Jack looked at Arcee, he couldn't help but speak. "Arcee…" This obviously didn't go unnoticed as the entire team looked right at him. Arcee seemed fearfully shocked as she didn't realize just who was talking to her, but she seemed dangerously curious as to how this bot knew her so she got right up to Jack's face with her blade inches from his neck.

"How do you know me?"Jack never got to answer as a jolt of electricity began to run through him. "AAAAAARGH!" The team looked to see more of the M.E.C.H forces behind Jack shooting him with shock rounds. Optimus decided to get the team out of danger as he called for a ground bridge. "Ratchet, we need a ground bridge now!"

As soon as the words left the Prime's mouth, a green vortex opened up behind them. "Autobots, retreat!" The team began to move when Arcee looked back to see Jack still on the ground. 'He may know where they've taken Jack.' And with that, Arcee began to blast at the soldiers behind Jackknife and in the process drag him to the ground bridge.

As soon as they passed through the bridge into the base, Ratchet shut it down and rushed over to bring the clearly wounded guest to one of the medical berths. This whole time, Jack was trying to find his bearings as his vision had gone hazy after being hit with the shock rounds. He looked around to see that he was now surrounded by the entire team of Autobots, including Miko and Rafael.

"So, how exactly do you know who I am?" The voice Jack heard made his head snap in the direction he heard it from. It was Arcee, but Jack was unsure how he should explain this so he made his own decision. 'Primus let them understand…' "If you want answers, take a look at what's on this…" With that, he gave Arcee the data disk.

Arcee turned the disk over in her fingers before handing it to Ratchet. "Wait…" Everyone suddenly snapped their attention back to Jack as he looked at Rafael. "Raf, there are things on that disk you're better off not seeing; could you wait outside for my sake?" Arcee was about to speak up saying that this stranger had no business asking anything of anyone here.

But Rafael stood from his chair as he spoke. "It's okay; I'll wait outside for a bit, I need some fresh air anyways." With that, the young one walked out of the med bay and Ratchet hit the play button. They watched as the video began to play and they saw Jack strapped to a table surrounded by doctors in white coats.

A doctor spoke up in a flat tone that was devoid of any emotions. "Beginning the first stage of Project Jackknife." With that, the table Jack was strapped to be reclined back and the team watched as another doctor came over to Jack with a syringe in hand and injected its contents into Jack's arm. With that, a group of doctors began to wheel Jack out of the room.

The view of the video then swapped to a large room as they saw Jack being strapped down as a nurse began to draw lines on Jack's body. She looked at Jack with a conflicted face that didn't go unnoticed by the team as she spoke. "Should he really be awake for this? We could have him fully sedated in no time at all."

The team listened as they heard no response to the nurse who in turn walked away. They then saw the needles begin to activate and lower slowly as they got closer and closer to Jack's body. When the needles dug into Jack's body, Jack saw the effect it had on the entire team. Bulkhead placed a comforting hand on Miko's shoulder at the fact that she was looking down with tears streaming down her face.

Wheeljack was grinding his teeth with a tight jaw and rage in his eyes. Bumblebee was leaning against a wall with wide eyes as he saw what had happened to Jack. Optimus and Ratchet were both looking at the screen with a look of sadness in their eyes. But when Jack saw Arcee, he had to force himself to stay sitting and not go over to her until he was sure they all knew who he really was.

Arcee had a hand over her mouth and energon tears flowed freely down her face plates. She could see the pain in Jack's eyes in the video as the needles burrowed into skin and bone. When the needles came out of Jack's body she seemed like she was about to break down, even further, when she saw the traces of energon seeping out of Jack's body.

As Jack was moved through the room, the team watched as he was connected to the machine that would force his transformation. Jack suddenly stood and walked a short distance away and turned away from the screen. He knew he wouldn't be able to restrain his emotions any further when the machine began the transformation and he didn't want the team to see him as a weakling.

Jack sat there for a few moments as he heard the doctors speak up before he heard the all too familiar hum of that evil machine activating. He was about to turn around and tell Ratchet to stop the video when he heard a scream that would make a human's blood curdle. He suddenly leaned against the wall as the memory of the pain flooded back into Jack's now mechanical mind and he suddenly felt very weak.

'How could I let myself be taken like that…?' When Jack screamed out in agony, the effect hit everyone. Optimus looked at the screen with wide eyes and clenched fists. Ratchet actually slammed his fists down onto one of the empty medical berths and looked down with his eyes clenched shut. Bulkhead, Miko and Bumblebee could do nothing but look on with wide eyes and slack jaws.

Wheeljack was actually the same way only his eyes were now full of a silent and fierce rage that had his hands shaking. Arcee was effected worst of all as she fell to her knee's and watched as Jack's body began to transform into that of a cybertronian. In fact, as it began to completely change, the eyes of the team began to widen even more as they realized what and who Jack was changing into.

Jack felt like he was about to faint as he heard the silence take over in the room when he suddenly heard his voice in the video. "This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's gonna hurt me." With that, the video came to an end and the screen went black once again. Jack didn't turn around, he couldn't… he just stood there with his back to the team and his head hung and his eyes closed.

Jack suddenly felt a hand on his back. One that he was all too familiar with; Arcee had stood from her spot on the floor and had walked over to Jack as she placed a hand on his back, he suddenly spoke up in a low voice. "Now you know…" Arcee heard this and she suddenly forced Jack to turn around and practically wrapped herself around him as he fell to his knees.

"It doesn't matter Jack…" Jack could do nothing but look down over Arcee's shoulder as she held him in her arms. "Jack, you have nothing to be ashamed of; you couldn't have known what would've happened when you left here." When Jack heard Optimus speak, it was as if he had heard his own father talking to him.

Jack looked up to see the Prime kneeling down beside him and Arcee as well as the rest of the team standing behind Optimus. "What's important is that you're safe Jack, you are home." And with that last word, Jack couldn't handle it anymore, the stress of the day's events finally caught up to Jack and he passed out in Arcee's arms.

Wow... the craziness of life and how things happen afterwards. But, it all worked out in the end right? :) Anywho, i'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Read and review my fellow fanfiction lovers. Until next time. Peace out.


	20. Chapter 20

Onwards into the story of our two Autobot lovers and the story they go through. :)

Ch. 20

Arcee didn't move an inch since Jack passed out. Ratchet had given the all clear as he had said Jack was only in stasis and would need to stay that way for a few hours. Arcee looked down at the one she loved thinking of how different things might become now that he would live as long as any cybertronian.

Arcee was so focused on Jack's limp form that she didn't notice a certain human walk up to her. "Looks like I'm not the only one happy he's home." Arcee's head snapped to her right to see none other than Jack's mother. She was looking at Arcee who was currently wearing a neutral face; but June must have seen through this as she spoke up again.

"What's wrong Arcee, he's safe and he's in your arms; what are you worrying about?" Arcee couldn't bring herself to look at June; she didn't want to betray what she was feeling. "I am happy he's safe, I really am June; but…I can't help but feel like he's going to have to go through so much pain now because I didn't protect him."

Arcee didn't know what to expect, but she did not expect a sharp wrap on her helm as she watched a small rock fall to the ground as an agitated looking June walked up to Arcee. "Stop blaming yourself Arcee! This was not your fault!" Arcee was shocked beyond belief that June had just acted like this.

She was about to speak when another voice cut in. "Nurse Darby is right Arcee…" Arcee and June turned to see Optimus walking up to them with his usual stoic face as he spoke. "There was no way any of us could've known that Jack would be abducted, and so none of us can be held accountable for what has happened; not even you Arcee." Arcee suddenly fell into a deep thought as she realized that June and Optimus were right. There was nothing she could've done to keep Jack from going; and so she settled for looking down at Jack with a warm smile as she too fell into stasis with a final thought. 'He's safe.'

Later on in the base

Jack on lined as he soon realized he wasn't strapped to a steel operating table, and he wasn't in his and Arcee's berth. Jack attempted to move when he felt something wrapped around him. Jack looked over his shoulder to see a sweet site; Arcee was asleep with her arms wrapped around Jack's shoulders and a happy smile on her face.

'Primus she looks beautiful…' With that, Jack unwrapped Arcee's arms and picked her up bridal style as he began to carry her to their room. Jack was just taking the first step when Arcee's arms found their way back around Jack's neck. 'She is such a little kid at times…' Jack thought this as he smiled down at her form while he walked into their room.

Jack walked over placing Arcee gently down on the berth and unwrapping her arms from around his neck once more. As Jack began to turn and walk away he heard a soft voice coming from behind him. He looked and found Arcee lying on her back with a look of ecstasy on her face. Jack couldn't move as he watched her wondering what she was dreaming of.

Jack got his answer as she suddenly spoke in her stasis. "Right there…" Jack suddenly froze as he watched as her hands slowly went separate ways as one found her chest while the other went further south. Jack wasn't moving, he wasn't sure how to act as he watched what was happening when Arcee suddenly rolled over on her stomach with her legs spread and arched as she began to thrust her hips forward in a rolling motion.

"Jack… oh Jack… Frag me!" Jack froze in place as he watched as Arcee… pleasured herself in her sleep. Jack suddenly saw a small puddle of fluid collect beneath Arcee's hips as she thrust one final time onto her hand as her legs began to straighten as she turned over on her side as she had a small pout on her face that quickly turned into a small smile.

Jack turned away as he left the room so that Arcee could rest. As the door slid silently shut, Jack walked over to the elevator as he felt like getting some fresh air. As the door opened and Jack stepped out onto the top of the base, Jack walked towards the edge of the cliff and looked out at the rising sun with a content smile on his face. Jack suddenly realized something.

'I can actually protect Arcee now…' With that realization he began to think of the threats that could come down on Arcee. 'Airachnid, M.E.C.H, Megatron…' At the thought of the Decepticon warlord, Jack felt himself become even more protective of his blue lover. 'Megatron... if you ever hurt Arcee I will hunt you down.'

Jack suddenly realized what he was thinking; he was letting his anger control him again. 'Get a hold of yourself Jack!' Jack looked down with a sense of guilt at his thoughts before his mind turned to something he hadn't realized until now. 'Arcee…Arcee!' Jack's head snapped up as he realized what he was capable of doing now as a true Autobot; not only that but Jack realized that he now had something he didn't have before.

'I've got something to fight for again… a new purpose; I'm fighting for Arcee.' With that, Jack looked back up at the horizon with a determined look on his face. As Jack let his mind clear, a voice came from behind him. "If I didn't know better, I would've thought you were Optimus standing there." Jack turned around to see Ratchet walking towards him.

The old medic had a surprisingly genuine smile on his face. "I'll admit, I've been taking to Optimus' favorite pass time recently. Other than that, what's up Ratchet?" With that, the medic walked to Jack's side and spoke. "I wanted to give you a little head's up on something about Cybertronians. I see you thinking a lot and many times it seems to be deep thought; Cybertronians can save and access their memories, thoughts, and dreams at any time.

You see there's this compartment on the side of your' helm; it contains a data chip that you can plug into any monitor in the base and you can view your' memories or your' dreams in complete detail." With that, Jack went a bit wide eyed; he could review his memories anytime he wanted. "That'll really come in handy; thank you Ratchet."

As Jack said his thank you, Ratchet turned back to the elevator with a smile on his face as he left Jack to his thoughts. Jack suddenly felt very tired, 'Primus, I feel like I just hit the low from an energy drink.' Jack began to walk back towards the elevator to go back into the base when he suddenly went very light headed. Jack caught himself on the wall of the elevator before sliding to the floor and passing out.

Inside Jack's mind

Jack woke up to see a high ceiling overhead with incredibly intricate designs engraved into it. As Jack sat up he saw that he was in an unfamiliar surrounding; it was like he was in a royal bedroom complete with technology he had never seen in his life. "Where am I…what's going on?" Jack got out of the bed he was in and looked around when he heard a voice come from behind him.

"I apologize for the way you arrived here, but I felt that you deserved to see this." Jack turned to see a tall crimson armored Cybertronian with black highlights in various areas of his armor, as well as a long white beard flowing down his face. The Cybertronian in question spoke up once more. "I am Alpha Trion; you have nothing to be fearful of here Jack."

Jack visibly relaxed at the words of the large Autobot. "Why am I here, I don't understand what's happening." As the words left Jack's mouth, Alpha Trion began to walk towards him as he placed a large hand on Jack's shoulder. "The elder cybertronians have the ability to speak to others in their dreams. And from what I have seen from my former student, Optimus, there is far more to you than meets the eye."

Jack began to walk beside the old bot as he went wide eyed at the realization that he was walking beside a bot that taught Optimus himself. "You were Optimus' master?" Alpha Trion then looked down at Jack with a warm smile as they reached a balcony. "I was 'master' to no one my young friend, but I was a teacher of sorts to Optimus; and as you are now a Cybertronian, I felt that you deserved to see this."

As Jack followed the eyes of the Prime outwards from the balcony, he couldn't suppress the gasp that emitted from his mouth. Below the balcony, Jack could see a city with glowing rivers and skyscrapers reaching high into the sky. There were Cybertronians of all types walking through the streets with smiles on their faces.

"Cybertron…" Jack didn't realize the smile that came to his face; Alpha Trion looked out at the city below as he spoke to the now newborn Cybertronian. "Yes Jack, this is the great city of Iacon; I felt that you should know what it was like before the war." Jack looked up at the ancient cybertronian with wonder in his eyes as he realized that this vision was Jack's gift from the older bot.

"Thank you, I didn't think I'd ever see something this…Primus I can't even describe this…" At that point, Jack was taken out of his awe when Alpha Trion spoke once more. "There is another matter that I have brought you here to discuss, one that you will play a central role in Jack." Jack then looked up at Alpha Trion with a serious face as the ancient Autobot continued.

"Earth is in greater danger than one can truly realize; has Optimus told you the story of the first two Cybertronians?" Jack was suddenly very attentive as to where this was going to lead as he shook his head. "The first two of our kind were actually brothers, they were known as Primus and Unicron…" Jack focused on Alpha Trion's words as he still had a love for learning history.

"Unicron was the darker of the two brothers and wanted nothing more to destroy any and all who opposed him, and so when Primus stood in his way of destroying other sentient beings, Unicron fought Primus without remorse. However, Primus gave birth from his own spark thirteen warriors, the thirteen original Primes; and with their aid, they put Unicron into stasis."

Jack was in a state of awe at the knowledge he was learning, but he couldn't resist the question that was in his mind. "So what happened to them after that?" Alpha Trion looked at Jack and spoke up once again. "For Primus, he used what was left of his power to give birth to our race, and his spirit left to become one with the Allspark and his body became the very core of Cybertron; but Unicron drifted, out into the vastness of space until he was caught in the orbit of a great star."

Jack began to wonder what exactly happened to Unicron when Alpha Trion spoke up with a grim voice. "As Unicrons' body orbited the star, his body began to attract matter from the universe, while his physical body began to reform into a more sedentary form. That form… was Earth's very core…" Jack suddenly went wide eyed.

"Your' telling me that Earth is actually Unicron in a permanent stasis lock!?" At Jack's question, the old Autobot looked at Jack with a serious face. "Not a permanent stasis lock; he can still be awakened, by a planetary alignment." Jack suddenly realized that everything he loved was in danger. "What am I supposed to do, there has to be a way to stop Unicron from coming back on line!"

Alpha Trion looked at Jack with a thoughtful face as he spoke up once again. "I am unsure of how you will stop Unicron; all I know is that you will play a part in this turn of events. It is the will of Primus Jack, but do not be fearful; for it is within you to succeed and to bring others back together when they forget who they truly are."

Jack wanted to ask what the Prime meant but before he could ask, his vision went whiter than snow as he began to hear a voice calling out. "Jack, Jack can you hear us?" Jack's optics on lined as his vision cleared and he saw the entire team standing around him. Jack looked up to see Optimus looking at him with a worried look as he spoke up.

"Jack what happened, we found you unconscious in the elevator." Jack sat up to see Arcee staring at him with streaks on her face. 'She's been crying…' Jack saw this and felt a sense of pain that he had caused her to worry. "I don't know how to explain it Optimus, I think it best I just show you all what happened."

OOOOOOOOOOH SCRAP! Things just keep getting more intense! Whatever shall happen next? I'll get the next chapter up soon so you can all find out. :) Read and review my fellow fanfiction lovers. Roll out!


	21. Chapter 21

OOOOH Boy! This is a long chapter by my standards so bare with it. Also, the scene where Jack was turned into a cybertronian has come under some questioning. I just wanted to relieve any worries of stealing thunder from other authors. I no do that crap; I actually tried to make the process as a whole somewhat similar to the operation that happened to Logan in X-Men Origins Wolverine where he was injected with that Adamantium. I had to rewrite a bit to make it not to obvious but that's where I got the idea. And as far as the little scene with what Jack saw Arcee doing... well, if i'm being honest... that one came out of my teenage hormone driven mind. Yeah, weird I know but what can you do about it? Anywho, hope you enjoy this chapter. ONWARD!

Ch. 21

Jack pulled the data chip out of the side of his head and gave it to Ratchet who in turn inserted it into the main console in the control room. Miko was standing on one of the catwalks overhead while Rafael was on Bumblebee's shoulder; Arcee was standing beside Jack as he was leaning against a nearby wall.

Optimus was watching the monitor quite intently as the image came on. At first everyone seemed as confused as Jack had felt when he entered the dream. But it was when the second person in the dream spoke up that every bot in the room froze. "Alpha Trion…by the Allspark…" Optimus' voice was one of pure shock at seeing his former teacher.

"Hold on a second, pause the video." Ratchet hit a button pausing the image where it stood as Jack suddenly pushed off the wall and walked over to Optimus. "Who exactly was Alpha Trion? I get that he was Optimus' teacher, but something tells me he had a huge impact before the war." Jack had expected Optimus to speak but was surprised to hear Ratchet speak first.

"Alpha Trion was the high overseer of the great Iacon Archives, and one of the first leaders of the Cybertronian race; and he was one of the wisest of all our kind." Jack was floored at the realization that Alpha Trion was one of, if not, the wisest of all cybertronians. 'That explains how he knew so much about Unicron and Primus.'

With that, Jack gave a nod to Ratchet who continued the video and everyone's attention was back on the video. Jack suddenly felt a small feeling on the side of his leg; he looked down to see his mother standing there with a concerned look on her face. 'She never changes when it comes to family.' Jack thought with a smile as he knelt down and placed a hand on the ground as he allowed his mom to stand in his palm. As Jack stood up, his vision went back to the subject at hand.

 _Jack began to walk beside the old bot as he went wide eyed at the realization that he was walking beside a bot that taught Optimus himself. "You were Optimus' master?" Alpha Trion then looked down at Jack with a warm smile as they reached a balcony. "I was 'master' to no one my young friend, but I was a teacher of sorts to Optimus; and as you are now a Cybertronian, I felt that you deserved to see this."_

 _As Jack followed the eyes of the Prime outwards from the balcony, he couldn't suppress the gasp that emitted from his mouth. Below the balcony, Jack could see a city with glowing rivers and skyscrapers reaching high into the sky. There were Cybertronians of all types walking through the streets with smiles on their faces_.

At that point, the Autobots and even the other humans in the room collectively gasped at the site before them. Jack smiled at the vision of the planet that he had seen when he looked over to see something he never thought he would see, both Optimus and Ratchet had energon tears flowing down their face plates as they spoke in unison with Jack on the video.

"Cybertron…" With that, Jack went over and paused the video so that the team could see the image of their home in its golden days just a while longer. As Jack stood by Arcee, he felt her grip his unoccupied hand as tears began to fall from her eyes as well. Jack looked down at his lover and smiled at her as she looked into his eyes.

"I forgot how beautiful Cybertron was…" Jack suddenly remembered that Cybertron was no longer the great planet it once was. 'It's a dead world now…' The thought found its way into Jack's mind, but he didn't want Arcee to feel any more pain than what she already was and so decided to speak something he held true to his spark.

"There's only one other thing that I've seen that's as beautiful as what I saw in that dream, and I'm looking at her right now…" With those words, the floodgates opened and Arcee gripped Jack's hand even tighter as the tears came out even heavier and her eye's bored right into Jack. Jack didn't need her to say the words he could see in her eyes, and so he merely nodded understandingly before he went back over to the video and continued it.

 _Jack didn't realize the smile that came to his face; Alpha Trion looked out at the city below as he spoke to the now newborn Cybertronian. "Yes Jack, this is the great city of Iacon; I felt that you should know what it was like before the war." Jack looked up at the ancient cybertronian with wonder in his eyes as he realized that this vision was Jack's gift from the older bot._

 _"Thank you, I didn't think I'd ever see something this…Primus I can't even describe this…" At that point, Jack was taken out of his awe when Alpha Trion spoke once more. "There is another matter that I have brought you here to discuss, one that you will play a central role in Jack." Jack then looked up at Alpha Trion with a serious face as the ancient Autobot continued._

 _"Earth is in greater danger than one can truly realize; has Optimus told you the story of the first two Cybertronians?" Jack was suddenly very attentive as to where this was going to lead as he shook his head. "The first two of our kind were actually brothers, they were known as Primus and Unicron…"_

 _Jack focused on Alpha Trion's words as he still had a love for learning history. "Unicron was the darker of the two brothers and wanted nothing more to destroy any and all who opposed him, and so when Primus stood in his way of destroying other sentient beings, Unicron fought Primus without remorse. However, Primus gave birth from his own spark thirteen warriors, the thirteen original Primes; and with their aid, they put Unicron into stasis."_

 _Jack was in a state of awe at the knowledge he was learning, but he couldn't resist the question that was in his mind. "So what happened to them after that?" Alpha Trion looked at Jack and spoke up once again. "For Primus, he used what was left of his power to give birth to our race, and his spirit left to become one with the Allspark and his body became the very core of Cybertron; but Unicron drifted, out into the vastness of space until he was caught in the orbit of a great star."_

 _Jack began to wonder what exactly happened to Unicron when Alpha Trion spoke up with a grim voice. "As Unicrons' body orbited the star, his body began to attract matter from the universe, while his physical body began to reform into a more sedentary form. That form… was Earth's very core…"_

At that moment, every Autobot and human in the room went wide eyed at the realization that they were all in very real danger. Arcee was frozen in shock as she suddenly felt Jack grip her hand just a little tighter than what he was before. Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Miko simultaneously said "Scrap," and Optimus now looked at the screen with what any soldier knew as 'the thousand yard stare.' 

_Jack suddenly went wide eyed. "Your' telling me that Earth is actually Unicron in a permanent stasis lock!?" At Jack's question, the old Autobot looked at Jack with a serious face. "Not a permanent stasis lock; he can still be awakened, by a planetary alignment." Jack suddenly realized that everything he loved was in danger._

 _"What am I supposed to do, there has to be a way to stop Unicron from coming back on line!" Alpha Trion looked at Jack with a thoughtful face as he spoke up once again. "I am unsure of how you will stop Unicron; all I know is that you will play a part in this turn of events. It is the will of Primus Jack, but do not be fearful; for it is within you to succeed and to bring others back together when they forget who they truly are."_

As the screen went black, everyone in the room suddenly turned to Jack who had a nervous look on his face. "So…what do we do?" Jack's question was on the mind of everyone in the room when a beep sounded from the central console. Ratchet walked over to where the beep had originated and pressed a few buttons before the main screen lit up and Ratchet spoke.

"We've got a large energon reading." Jack heard this and spoke up with a serious tone realizing that there were other worries that needed to be dealt with for the Autobots. "How big are we talking here Ratchet?" Arcee looked at Jack with a sudden smile on her face as Ratchet answered the young Autobot.

"Large enough to make a difference in our current stores." As these words reached Optimus' audio receptors, he snapped into motion as he once again focused on what was at hand. "Ratchet; prepare a ground bridge." Jack felt his face fall as he figured Ratchet would want Jack to stay at the base being that he was still new to being a Cybertronian.

As the team walked through the bridge Jack walked over to stand beside Ratchet and the central console. "Optimus, we'll keep the comm. line open in case you need anything." "Understood, we will contact you if you need anything. Prime out." With that, Jack watched the monitor as he watched the team's signatures move into the canyon.

Jack stood there for about five minutes when there was a sudden series of beeps that came from the monitor. As Jack hit the buttons on the console a large group of signatures appeared on the monitor. "Decepticons…" Ratchet came over with a serious face. "Jack, what's going on?" Jack turned to the old medic with an agitated face that showed Jack's anger at the arrival of the enemy troops. "There's a scrap ton of Decepticons heading towards the energon signature."

In the canyon with the team

As Arcee walked by Bumblebee, she couldn't help but feel as if something big was about to happen. "Optimus, you know that feeling I get when scrap is about to hit the fan blades? I'm getting that feeling right now." Optimus looked at his lieutenant when, as if on cue, Jack's voice split through the communications line.

"Optimus, this is Jack; you've got a big fragging group of Decepticons en route and they are hauling some serious aft!" As the words left Jack's mouth the entire team primed their weapons as they suddenly saw the first wave of Cons heading right for them. In the front of the group were three Decepticons that were only sent by Megatron when he felt it was necessary.

"Well well, looks like we've found ourselves a fight." Knockout, the Decepticon medic primed his blasters as a much larger bot reformed his hand into a large war hammer. "Hah, if it ain't Bulkhead; I didn't think I'd see your' sorry hide here." As Bulkhead saw the bot who spoke, he felt a surge of disgust run through his frame.

"Breakdown!" But it was the final bot that caught the attention of Optimus and Arcee. "Airachnid!" Arcee was now a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off as the sadistic spider bot now smirked back at her. "It's good to see you Arcee; do tell me how dear, sweet Jack is doing." As the sadistic femme spoke to Arcee, the blue femme finally snapped as the entire team opened fire on the Decepticons while taking cover behind the boulders that dotted the floor of the canyon.

As the Autobots fired at the Vehicons, the battle turned slightly in their favor as the Decepticons swapped over to melee weapons and charged. "I'd love to stay and chat boys, but I wouldn't want to steal your' glory. I'll go find that energon we were looking for." As Airachnid transformed and flew through the canyon, Arcee was now livid as she gave chase to her hated enemy. "Arcee!" Optimus knew that Arcee was walking into an inevitable trap set by Airachnid, but the blue femme didn't hear Optimus as she gave chase. "You won't get away this time!"

Meanwhile at the base

Jack was watching Arcee's signature like a hawk a small distance behind Ratchet. "Arcee's broke off from the group; she's going after the Decepticon." Jack suddenly saw at the corner of the monitor another group of Decepticon signatures heading right for Arcee and the lone Decepticon. 'There's only one Decepticon who Arcee would chase like that without thinking of anything else.'

"It's Airachnid; Arcee's trying to settle the score." As the group of Decepticons reached Arcee, the blue femme's signature began to flash as it decreased by an amount that put Ratchet on edge. "She's wounded, Optimus; Arcee is in trouble, she's about—" Ratchet suddenly heard the ground bridge activate and turned in time to see Jack run through the vortex like there was a scraplet on his heels. "Jack what are you doing!?"

Back in the canyon

Arcee was on the ground as Airachnid watched her lesser troops surround the Autobot lieutenant. 'Jack…' As Arcee knew she couldn't fend off the entire group in her condition she closed her eyes as she waited for her inevitable death. Just as the group began to raise their weapons, a ground bridge opened in the air above the group; effectively getting Airachnid's attention.

"Who in the name of…" Her words were interrupted as a bot she had never seen before fell from the vortex right at the group of Vehicons surrounding Arcee. "RRAAAAAAAAAGH!" As the lone bot landed on two unfortunate Vehicons, a face shield much like the one used by Optimus appeared and the bot charged at the Decepticons with a savage war cry.

Arcee saw the bot run by and couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Jack?" The bot in question was running at the Decepticons when he suddenly activated a large blade from his left arm that glowed with a red edge to the steel. As this was happening, Airachnid was wide eyed and slack jawed as she saw the Autobot she now knew as the same human she had failed to kill and had nearly been off lined by.

"How is he a Cybertronian, he was a human!" However, Airachnid seemed to be admiring the bot as she watched him slaughter the bots around Arcee without mercy. "He's got skills…" Jack was in a full on rage as he cut the head off of one Decepticon that fell onto the pile that was growing at his feet.

As he downed another bot, he heard a faint sound from behind him. As he quickly turned around with his blade up, he caught three spider-like legs that were flying right at his head. "Hello Airachnid…" The spider bot looked into Jack's eyes as she suddenly felt a smirk grow over her face plates as they separated and began to circle one another.

"Well well, it's good to see you again Jack; heh, you've changed a lot since we last met." As Jack stood in front of Arcee's prone form while keeping his eyes on the spider bot in front of him. He remembered how the last time he had met the crazed femme; she had nearly ended his life. "Yeah, last time we met wasn't very good for either of us was it?"

Jack had a slightly playful tone in his voice that caught the attention of both femmes. 'Jack, what the frag are you doing? Don't screw around with her!' "You hit right on the mark with that comment my dear, but can you blame me for going after you? And now you're even more of a looker than before."

Normally Jack would have blushed at such a comment, but Jack knew that he couldn't let his guard down with Airachnid right in front of him. "Your' not half bad looking yourself spider, but I'm happy being with Arcee so I don't see anything happening between me and you anytime soon; sorry." Arcee couldn't help but go slack jawed at what Jack just said.

'He just squashed her little pipe dream like the but she is!' Airachnid, however, was livid after that little comment as she ran at Jack with an enraged war cry. Jack activated a large almost circular shield on his right arm as he ran at the crazed bot. Airachnid was grunting and growling with every strike she put forward.

'That insolent little bastard has no idea what he's just gotten himself into!' Jack watched Airachnid's face with each attack as he read the look on her face and he suddenly realized one emotion he was all too familiar with: pain; not because of physical injury, but by emotional misery. Misery caused by loneliness.

Jack could see that she was getting out of control and so with a parry of her bladed legs, he pressed in close to her body and wrapped his arms entirely around her. 'Airachnid had not expected this at all and struggled until she felt her feet leave the ground as she saw the world spin around her before she felt herself slam against the ground.

She tried to get up only to find her vision was clouded and her limbs felt like they were chained. As her vision cleared she felt a blade lying on her neck and saw Jack looking down at her with a neutral face. 'Primus if I didn't know better, I would think he was a prime…' Jack suddenly spoke up in a low tone that sent a chill through Airachnid's frame.

"I'm not gonna kill you Airachnid, because I'm not like Megatron…and I know what it's like to feel alone." These words obviously hit a key with the downed spider bot as she looked into Jack's eyes with a far off look in her eyes. "You can hide behind this whole merciless killer thing all you want Airachnid… but I'm not gonna give up on you."

Those words suddenly froze both Airachnid and Arcee in their individual places as Jack continued. "You make yourself look vicious because you're trying to escape fear you once felt in the past, the fear of being weak and helpless. You say you work alone and act like you don't need anyone because you've had to fend for yourself without help from anyone for so long. So you can turn away all you want, but I'm not gonna stop trying to help you heal… I'll keep holding my hand out until you feel you can trust me enough to take it."

As Jack said those words, he retracted his sword and began to walk over to Arcee. Airachnid was beyond confused at what had just happened. 'How could he know...?' Airachnid suddenly realized that she could find the strength to once again move and stood up to look at Jack as he walked away. As her mind told her to run at him and rip his spark out as she watched the life leave his eyes, her spark was telling her to let him in; to let him help her. 'What am I supposed to do?' With that, Airachnid transformed and flew off into the distance as Jack walked over to Arcee as the rest of the team came into view.

Back at Base

Ratchet shut down the ground bridge as he looked at the team as they walked into the base. "Well, what happened out there?" As Ratchet looked at the team, Wheeljack spoke up in an impressed tone. "Heh, we only saw a messy aftermath when we got there; but from what Arcee told us, Jack here was a one bot army!"

At those words, the attention of the group converged onto Jack only to find that he was walking towards the wash room and was not looking back at the group. "Jack, what's the matter; are you injured?" Jack paused at Ratchets words before walking onwards towards the wash room, leaving a very confused group of Autobots in the control center. Jack, however, didn't answer as he continued to walk.

Meanwhile, at Fort Bragg:

Michael was sitting in his office when he heard his phone ring. 'Who the fuck is it now…' Michael picked up the phone and froze when he heard the voice on the other end of the line. "Sergeant Major, this is Agent Fowler again; we found Jack. He's… changed quite a bit, but he's alive and well." Michael froze as he smiled and spoke up in an even tone, despite his happiness that his friend was safe.

"I knew Jack couldn't stay off grid for very long; thanks for the good news Fowler." With that, Michael hung up his phone and smiled before he left his office and walked down to the mess hall. As he sat down with a glass of scotch in his hand, a Gunnery Sergeant sat down across from him with a smile.

"Good afternoon Sergeant Major; good day so far?" Michael looked up at the Marine and saw the name 'Simmons' sewed onto his name tag. "Any day in the Corps is a good day Simmons." With that, Simmons laughed before he spoke up. "Sergeant Major, could I ask you something real quick?" With that, Michael looked at the Sergeant before him; he put down his scotch and nodded at the Sergeant.

"Thank you sir; well there's this name that's been going around in the barracks recently. The name is Jackson Darby; he's some bird in the Army from what I hear; I was wondering if you might tell me anything about him?" With that, Michael smirked and spoke up in an even tone. "Where to start? Jack and I grew up together; we were in the same ROTC battalion back in Nevada. We would always try to outdo each other in the cadet challenge and it led to a strong friendship. Later on, he became the Battalion Commander and I became the Command Sergeant Major, but we wanted different things; he went into the Army and became a Colonel in the Rangers while I joined the Corps."

Michael took a sip of his scotch while Simmons sat there listening intently. "Sounds like you two were pretty damn close huh Sergeant Major?" Michael smiled before he put down his glass and spoke again. "You could say that, me and Jack both grew up with military parents and we wound up becoming as close as family."

With that, Simmons smirked before speaking up. "Well, thank you for indulging my curiosity Sergeant Major; I better get back to my work. Have a good day sir." With that Simmons walked away at a brisk pace and rounded a corner as Michael continued to sip at his scotch. "Got him sir, he's definitely connected to HMH1; and he apparently went to the same school."

With that, Simmons waited for a minute as he listened to his orders. "Understood sir, pulling back to regroup with scout team Alpha; Simmons out." With that, Simmons snuck out of the Fort as Michael went to his office. As the Sergeant Major sat down at his desk, he picked up his phone and began to dial as he heard a voice answer him. "This is Sergeant Major Grymm; get me Agent William Fowler."

Oh my... I wonder what's in store for my OC? I'll get the next chapter up soon so you can find out. :)


	22. Chapter 22

WARNING! Here comes the explicit stuff! DO NOT READ IF UNDER 18! Unless of course you just can't help yourself. Lol. Anywho, ONWARD!

Ch. 22

At the Autobot Base:

Jack was shooting at practice targets in the training area of the base; he was shooting down individual targets as he relaxed with the time he now had on his hands. He had finally chosen an alt-mode, a Comanche attack chopper with a similar design to the Apache, and had just returned from his recon patrol.

The door to the training room opened and a blue femme entered quietly. The femme slowly crept up behind Jack before she heard the larger mech speak up. "Don't even think about it Cee." The femme stood up straight before she spoke up. "How the frag did you know I was there?" Jack deactivated his blaster and turned to his blue lover as he spoke up.

"I'm me; I know things my dear." Jack capitalized that statement with a cocky grin. Arcee suddenly became a blur as she jumped at Jack and pinned him to the ground, with her legs straddling Jack's waist, before looking him in the face. "And yet I can still put you on the ground; what does that say about you 'my dear'?"

Jack smiled before raising his hands in mock defeat. As he opened his eyes and locked them with Arcee, the femme stood and helped him up to his feet. "So whatcha wanna do today? We've both finished our patrols and there hasn't been any Decepticon activity for the past couple of days." Arcee suddenly walked forward with a sway in her hips before she wrapped her arms around Jacks waist and pulled him into her with a predatory grin on her face.

"You tell me partner." Jack smiled as Arcee and proceeded to pick the blue femme up, bridal style, and carry her to their shared room. As the door opened and shut behind them, Jack tossed Arcee onto the berth, in a playful manner, before he lay over her and latched his now metallic teeth onto her neck.

"Oh… Primus yes." Jack smirked as he lightly bit at Arcee's neck as he made that one connection that made Arcee scream. They battled for dominance throughout the entire time until they collapsed onto the berth in an exhausted pile of living metal. Jack suddenly heard a tap at the door to their room and stood from the berth, leaving a now very sated Arcee on said berth, and opened the door to see Optimus standing there.

"Jackknife, Agent Fowler is here; he has brought a visitor for you." Jack cocked his head in slight confusion before shrugging his shoulders. "Okay Optimus, I'll be out in just a second." With that, the door closed once again and Jack turned around to see Arcee standing there with a smile. "Don't keep him waiting Jack."

Jack smiled as he opened the door and walked out with Arcee beside him. As they entered the control room, they saw Agent Fowler standing on one of the many catwalks; beside him was another human wearing a pair of Marine Corps fatigues. As Jack entered the room, Agent Fowler turned to see Jack walking in beside Arcee.

"Ah, Jack; it's good to see you back with the bots." Jack smiled before he saw the human in the fatigues begin to slowly turn towards him. As he suddenly faced forward, Jack felt his eyes go wide at the face before him. "Michael, I didn't expect to see you here!" As Michael saw this he went completely slack jawed as he realized who he was speaking to.

"Jackson Darby, I'll be damned; I didn't expect you to have changed that much!" With that, Jack walked up to the catwalk and smiled at his old friend before he spoke up. "What are you doing here Mike; I figured you'd be busy building the next generation of Marines." Michael couldn't help but smirk at Jack's jest as he spoke up.

"I heard you were back; I figured I'd come and aggravate you for a little while." Michael smiled as Jack laughed until another voice spoke up. "Sergeant Major Grymm, welcome back to our base." Jack and Michael looked back to see Optimus walking up to them both. "Wait, welcome back; has Michael been here before?"

Optimus looked at Jack with a smile as Michael smirked at the obviously unaware Autobot. "Michael and his team assisted us when we went to the town to search for you." Jack looked at Michael with a smirk until the human spoke up. "Well, I just came to see how you were holding up; I'm glad to see you safe and sound but I best be getting back to Fort Bragg."

With that, Jack smiled up at the young Marine before snapping off a salute. "Don't be a stranger my friend; drop by and visit when you have some time." Michael smiled at Jacks' words before snapping off his own salute before dropping his arm and walking to the elevator. Jack smiled at the Marines' retreating form until he felt a hand take hold of his; he looked down to see Arcee standing beside him with a smile on her face.

"You seem pretty happy that we just got caught up with another human Jack; should I be jealous?" Jack suddenly went rigid as his eyes widened at what Arcee just said. Arcee suddenly burst into laughter at Jacks' expression; she soon righted herself and looked at Jack as she spoke up. "You're not the only one who can crack a joke every once in a while Jack."

With that, Jack watched as Arcee began to walk towards their room. Jack suddenly caught himself following the sway of her curvaceous hips as she walked. 'Okay; now she's just teasing me.' With that thought, Jack ran forward with speed he didn't realize he had and wrapped his arms around Arcee before his teeth laid siege to her neck.

"Jackknife, what in Primus' name are you doing!?" Arcee's voice was leaving her as a whisper as Jack attacked her neck. Jack suddenly raised his metallic lips up to the side of Arcee's helm before he spoke up in a husky voice. "You have your' tools; I have mine. Remember?" Arcee suddenly felt as though her legs could give out at any second as she heard Jack use those words before she suddenly felt her feet leave the ground as she soon found herself in her room.

"Jack, I-" Arcee looked up to see Jack looking at her with hazy eyes before he tossed her onto the berth they shared. Arcee tried to sit up, but fell back to the berth as she suddenly found herself pinned beneath Jack's massive frame. "Did I never warn you about teasing; after all, it can get you into a lot of trouble."

Arcee suddenly felt as if her spark chamber was going to burst as she went insane with lust. "Stop talking and frag me already!" Arcee sat up and attempted to flip them, but only succeeded in having her hands pinned over her head as they were caught in one of Jacks' larger hands. 'Oh Primus, what did I just get myself into?'

Arcee suddenly felt Jacks' lips pressed against hers and was shocked when she felt his tongue enter her mouth. 'Primus yes… I love it when he does that.' Arcee suddenly felt Jacks' unoccupied hand begin to dance over her body at a tantalizingly slow pace. "Jack I- urrgh you teasing little son of a- AAGH!" Jack didn't let her finish as he found her nether regions with a clever pair of fingers that began to run circles around her clitoris.

"Oh; Primus all fragging mighty!" Arcee was going insane until she opened her eyes to see Jack smiling at her with cocky eyes as he suddenly leaned down next to her helm and whispered into her ear. "Tell me Cee; tell me what you want." Arcee suddenly felt a burst of electricity run straight through her nether regions at Jack's words before she thrust her hips forward and screamed out.

"Frag Jack, I need you inside me now!" Jack's fingers suddenly froze where they were, causing Arcee to mewl pitifully before she saw the look in his eyes. 'Oh frag yes… now I've hit the Jackpot.' Arcee looked down Jacks' body with eager eyes and soon reached the base of his torso. Arcee suddenly saw the armor, around the front of his own nether regions, begin to retract; letting loose Jacks', now fully erect, member.

Arcee watched as Jack moved the head of his phallus to her entrance before pressing it into her and freezing where he was. 'Oh for the love of Primus why does he do this to me!?' Arcee looked at Jack with pleading eyes as she silently begged him to move; to slam inside of her and take her in that way only Jack was able to.

Jack suddenly softened his gaze before he leaned down next to her ear and spoke once again. "Say my name Arcee; not as an Autobot, just as me…" Arcee suddenly realized what it was Jack wanted. He wanted her to show him that he was still the same being that she fell in love with all those years ago.

Arcee suddenly locked eyes with Jack as their eyes twinkled before Arcee spoke up with passion in her voice. "Take me Jack… make me yours." At those words, Jack released Arcee's hands and wrapped his arms around her back… before he pressed slowly into Arcee's weeping cavern. "Frag…. Yes…" Arcee's back arched into Jack as he began to thrust into her at a steady pace.

Arcee wrapped her arms around Jack and dug her fingers into his back as she lifted her hips off the berth to meet his. They carried on like that for almost twenty minutes before it began to drive Jack insane. "Brace yourself." Jack suddenly lifted Arcee off the bed and sat them up into a vertical position; Jack suddenly began to thrust into Arcee deeper and quicker than before, effectively driving her insane.

"Aagh- oh frag yes, yes, yes!" Arcee felt like she was flying as Jack thrust in and out of her dripping core. Arcee suddenly lost control as her teeth latched onto Jacks' neck and bit down with a vengeance. 'Oh Primus, I feel like I'm gonna explode!' Jack tilted his head and let Arcee mark him as he continued to claim her as his.

They carried on like this for almost an hour before Arcee unlatched her teeth and whispered into Jacks' ear. "So close… I'm so fragging close!" Jack heard this and lifted one of his hands before gripping the back of Arcee's helm and whispering into her ear. "I love you Arcee; I love you more than anything."

With that, Jack tilted his femmes' head and bit down on her neck as she had done to him while plowing into Arcee even faster than before. Arcee rode the waves of crushing pleasure until she felt her climax hit her with a massive thrust from Jack's member. "JAAAAACK!" Jack heard Arcee as her tunnel clamped down on his member and pushed him over the edge, into the sweet ecstasy of climax.

Jack and Arcee road their shared release for several minutes until Jack fell back onto the berth with Arcee on his chest. They sat there for minutes until Arcee crawled up Jack's chest and locked onto his lips; Jack sat on the berth kissing Arcee until she pulled away and spoke up. "I love you Jack, more than anything or anyone I've ever known."

It is finished! The naughty scene has been set! Now I really need everyone to read and review to let me know if I did a good job or not. Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter because the next chapter is gonna be a bit rough. Until then, ROLL OUT! ;) ALSO! I didn't set it up yet but Jack's vehicle mode is something like a mix of Ironhide from the transformers movies, a Chevy Silverado, and a six wheel Dodge truck. Think of it any way you'd like but that's the way I wanted it. Anywho. catch yall later.


	23. Chapter 23

Prepare yourself people... someones liable to despise me for this chapter but it's all part of the plan.

Ch. 23

One month later at the Autobot base:

Jack was standing beside Optimus as they scanned for energon deposits throughout the world. Jack let his mind wander to his life as of late. He was in a relationship with Arcee and was a member of the Autobots; aside from the frequent number of Decepticon incursions, life was good. Optimus suddenly heard a beep go off; signaling that someone was trying to contact them.

Optimus hit a series of buttons before the grim face of Agent Fowler appeared. "Agent Fowler, how can we be of assistance?" The normally boisterous Agent looked at the Prime before speaking up. "I need to speak to Jack; there's been… an incident." With that, Jack looked up with worried eyes as he walked up to the monitor and looked at the Agent.

"What is it Agent Fowler; you sound like you just buried a member of your' family." The agent looked at Jack with disheartened eyes before he spoke up. "I'm gonna be straight forward with you Jack because I don't like reading those damn letters. Sergeant Major Michael Grymm was declared KIA yesterday."

Jack suddenly felt his spark grow cold as he looked down and placed his hands on the console in front of him. 'Primus… please say this isn't happening…' Agent Fowler continued with a soft voice. "He was leading his platoon on a rescue mission in Quatar; they were infiltrating a town overrun by Al-Qaida and got surrounded. We had to send in the 4th Battalion to clear the town and recover their remains."

Jack felt as though he had been stabbed through his spark chamber; Michael had been the closest thing to a brother that Jack had. Optimus placed a hand on Jack's shoulder before Fowler spoke up. "We'll be giving them a proper burial tomorrow; we've got clearance for the Autobots to be there if you want to attend."

Jack closed his eyes before slowly nodding at the Agent as Optimus spoke up. "If you will send us the coordinates, we will travel there tomorrow." With that, Fowler sent the coordinates before saying his farewells. Jack moved to the elevator and went to the top of the base, leaving Optimus in the command center as he called the team together.

"What's going on Optimus; you look troubled." Ratchet spoke up with a hint of worry in his voice as the team looked at their leader. "You all remember Sergeant Major Michael Grymm, the Marine that was with us in the town after Jack's abduction." The team began to nod as they all remembered how he and Jack had met up a few times after their first meeting with Jack as an Autobot.

"As of yesterday, he was reported to have been killed in action… we will be attending his platoons burial ceremony tomorrow." With that, each member of the team felt a sense of sadness come over them, for the lost soldiers as well as for Jack. Arcee walked to the training room and began target practice as she realized that this news had undoubtedly hit Jack harder than the rest of the team. 'Jack, don't you do anything stupid…'

The day after; at the burial ceremony:

Jack watched as the ceremony progressed, a Marine Corps band played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes as well as instruments from other music families. Each member of the platoon had a customary American flag draped over their casket as they were carried by fellow Marines. Jack suddenly saw the final casket being carried out to the front of the group of caskets.

'Mike…' Jack saw that there were members of each military branch carrying Michael's casket, each one being from his family: his father from the Air Force; his uncle from the Navy; one of his cousins from the Army; his grandfather who was a retired Major from the Marine Corps; two cousins from the Air National Guard, another from the Army National Guard, and another from the Coast Guard.

Jack watched as the casket was marched slowly to the front of the platoon. As the casket was set down, Jack came to attention as Fowler gave a short speech about Michael. "I didn't know Michael as well as I wish I could've known him; he was a Marine and I was Army Rangers. But I will say this: from the times I did work with him; from the times we sat down and talked, he was always optimistic and in a good mood. He never shirked a responsibility and served everyone around him before he ever thought about doing something for himself. He led these men through good times and bad and lifted them up no matter what the situation was; he loved his country with a pride I've seen in only a handful of other men and women. I can't say much more than that, because you can't describe the dedication he and his men had in words. And I know that he's looking down on us all right now. And so I'd like to say thank you Michael and the fighting men who marched with you into that final firefight; thank you for all you did for each of us; thank you for the sacrifice you made and the selflessness you showed in life."

Jack felt energon tears going down his face as Fowler turned to the group of Caskets and saluted them. Throughout the ceremony, the rest of the Autobots watched in respectful silence. They suddenly watched as the humans present began to stand from their seats and salute their fallen comrades.

Optimus looked on at the spectacle with solitude and respect; he then saw Jack walk forward slightly before, he too, raised his hand to his brow and saluted the fallen soldiers. The team watched as, slowly, the salutes began to slowly lower until they were all standing and listening to the drone of the singing bagpipes.

The crowd present began to disperse as the caskets were carried away to be buried. The team saw Jack standing motionless until his own salute dropped and more energon tears fell down his face. The team couldn't take it anymore as the emotions hit them. Bulkhead consoled Miko as she had tears of her own coming down as Wheeljack placed a hand on Bulkheads' shoulder; Bumblebee had a hand on Rafael's shoulder as the boy looked down in sadness.

Optimus and Ratchet could do nothing but look on in respectful silence. Arcee was frozen in place as she watched the state Jack was in; she walked forward slowly and when she reached Jack she could only take his hand in hers and comfort him as best she could. "Jack, whatever it takes; however long it takes, I'll be right beside you for anything you need."

With those words, the Autobots began to leave the base, each driving silently as they made their way home. It was Jack who had the most on his mind as he drove ahead of the group to the base. 'Mike….. Primus I still can't wrap my head around all this.' As Jack drove ahead, Arcee drove behind as she worried for her lover. "Primus, please… help him get through this."

Scrap... I feel like an A-hole after this chapter. I killed off Jack's best friend... BUT FEAR NOT! This is not the last we will see of that Marine.


	24. Chapter 24

Oh the sick twist i'm about to put into this story. Anywho, I shall not keep you in suspense any longer. ONWARD!

Ch. 26

Time 12:25 a.m.

Simmons motioned for his troops to move in as they had finally taken out the last of the patrols that were on duty and had moved in and opened up a specific body drawer within the cold room. "Sir we've secured the subjects remains and are preparing to return to base." "Well done Simmons, proceed without delay; I'd like to get his organs reinserted in his body before decay sets in. The organs are already here at the base so all I'm waiting on is his body."

With that, Simmons looked at two of his troops and motioned them over to get the body. As he kept watch at the door, the two troops set up a body bag and placed the remains within before one of them spoke up. "Remains secure sir; we're ready to return to base." With that, the squad moved back outside of the base and to the extraction zone.

As the team saw the helicopter set down, they began to file inside before moving the body bag into the helicopter and strapping it down. As the chopper lifted off, Simmons looked down at the body bag with a wicked smirk on his face as he suddenly spoke up. "Don't worry sir, you won't be dead for very long. You'll rejoin the living soon enough."

Back at the Autobot base:

Jack shot at another target as he put two shots in the torso of the target and one in its head. He had been doing this for nearly an hour now; as Jack is taking aim at another target the doors of the training room open and a single bot walks through. The bot looks at Jack with a neutral face before speaking up.

"Hey Jack, how you holding up?" Jack turns around to see Bulkhead standing beside the door. "Surviving I guess; how's the next generation of wreckers coming along?" Jack continued firing at the training targets before he heard a few footsteps as Bulkhead spoke up once again. "Jack come on, I might not be too smart but I know that Mike's death has to be having a bad effect on you."

Jack suddenly froze as his blaster lowered and changed back into his hand as Bulkhead spoke up again. "Jack, if anyone understands grieving and loss, it's me and the rest of the team. Heck, even Bumblebee has lost friends in this war." Jack suddenly walked over to a large stack of steel crates and sat down as he spoke up.

"I've been shouldering my days with training and as much stasis as I can take." Bulkhead walked over to a crate beside Jack and sat down before speaking up. "I'm guessing you haven't talked to Arcee much since the ceremony huh?" Jack didn't look at Bulkhead, instead his head fell even lower as his eyes closed.

"Jack, you remember the few times Arcee has talked about Cliffjumper?" Jacks eyes opened as he looked at Bulkhead and nodded. "I've kept an eye on her on request from Optimus each time she talks about him. Each time she's talked about him, she's been able to talk a bit longer, and she doesn't have as much pain in her voice when she talks."

Jack sat up a bit at those words as his eyes locked onto Bulkhead. "You saying that I need to try and talk about Mike so that I don't wind up doing something stupid?" Bulkhead looked at Jack with a neutral face before speaking up. "Like I said Jack, we all understand loss, but keeping it bottled up isn't the way to heal. Wheeljack and I know that all too well; so does Arcee."

Jack suddenly looked down briefly before exhaling as he looked up a bit. "Well… where to start is the real question I guess." Bulkhead leaned back before speaking up in a neutral tone. "Start at the beginning ; what first got you tied up with Mike?" Jack suddenly looked down a bit before speaking up.

"That's not a very happy subject but… I guess it has to come out sooner or later. I was in the fifth grade when I first met Mike. I was biking home from school when I suddenly heard something down one of the back alleys in town. I snuck through the alley way and looked around a corner when I saw Mike being beaten to a pulp by Vince and some of his thuggy friends. I couldn't do anything but watch and at the end Vince put his foot on Mikes head and twisted his foot into it before walking off with his friends laughing."

Jack was looking straight at the floor as Bulkhead listened closely. "I dragged Mike out of the alley and to a bench across the street before going inside and asking if I could borrow a phone to call my mom. I told her what happened and asked her to come and help." Bulkhead watched as Jack closed and opened his eyes slowly before speaking up again.

"When she got there she took Mike straight to my house and stitched him up. When we were done we called his parents and told him what happened…." Jack paused for a moment as Bulkhead suddenly spoke up with a voice of understanding. "So basically, if you hadn't been there... Mike would've probably bled out and died right there..."

Jack suddenly opened his eyes as a small smile appeared on his face. "Heh, yeah... after that, I saw him at school the next day and walked up to talk with him. I asked how he was holding up and he just kind of smiled and said 'heh, aside from a headache and some scars I'll get over it.' We decided to start hanging out with each other and it led to a strong friendship. We were as close to brothers as two kids could get."

Jack smiled brightly as he looked over to Bulkhead. "We kept in touch over the years and eventually we joined ROTC together." Bulkhead smiled before speaking up in a light tone. "Thats a heck of a road to becoming brothers. That said, how are you feeling; any better?" Jack sat there in thought for a moment before he snickered and stood up.

"I'll give credit where it's due Bulk, you know how to help a bot out." Bulkhead smiled before standing and speaking in a jovial tone. "Heh, glad I could help." Jack suddenly looked at the door to the training room before speaking up. "I think I should go Bulk, I think it's about time I talked with Arcee for a while." Bulkhead put a hand on Jack's shoulder before speaking up with a smile on his face. "She's been waiting for you Jack; don't worry, she'll be glad to see you feelin' better." With that, Jack left the training room in search of his partner.

Location: Unknown

Silas looked down from a platform at the body strapped down to an operating table as his medics finished sewing him shut and cauterizing the incisions. "Sir, we've finished reinserting the organs and are ready to proceed." Silas looked down with a smirk before speaking up. "Very good, connect him to the generator and prepare to initiate cardiopulmonary revival."

With that, the medics connected shock cords and pads to the body over the heart and brain before connecting the cords to a large machine. The lead medic looked up to Silas as his hand hovered over a button on one of the consoles. "Do it." With those words, the medic hit the button as the generator began to power up.

The generator suddenly began to generate electricity before a massive charge of power ran through the cords and into the body. The doctor looked at the monitor before a beep suddenly resonated throughout the room. "Sir, we have a pulse; the subject has been revived." With that, Silas smirked again before looking at the body and speaking up. "Welcome back to the living… Sergeant Major."

OOOOOH SCRAP! SILAS DONE WENT AND TURNED INTO DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN! What does this mean for the rest of the story!? What is in store for Jack and the Autobots!? Why am I asking you awesome readers all of these crazy questions!? Keep an eye out for the next chapter and maybe we'll find the answers there! Until then, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT! ;)


	25. Chapter 25

On with the story. :)

Ch. 27

Jack and Arcee sat side by side as they watched with Miko and Raf as Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Bumblebee were 'lobbing' in the training room. Jack held Arcee's hand in his as he gave it a slight squeeze while looking over at her. As she made eye contact with him they smiled and looked into each other's as they both had the same thought running through their heads.

"Hey Arcee, what exactly are they doing?" Jack and Arcee looked over to see Raf looking at her with a confused look. "Lobbing, it was a favorite pass time on Cybertron among the working class and soldiers. We used to have tournaments for it before the war." Raf suddenly looked at the three Autobots with a smile as he understood better what they were doing.

At that moment, a voice cut in to the room. "Autobots, I have some news for you all." The group looked to the door of the training room to see Optimus standing there with Ratchet standing behind him. Everyone present walked up to Optimus with neutral faces as Bulkhead suddenly spoke up. "What's up Optimus?"

The entire group focused on their commander as he suddenly spoke up. "As you are all aware, there has not been any known Decepticon activity for quite some time." With that Jack suddenly spoke up. "Two weeks to be exact; do you think the con's are planning something?" Optimus however raised a hand causing Jack to freeze in slight surprise until Optimus spoke up.

"Indeed the Decepticons are devious in that they can be doing anything. However, as we have seen no Decepticon activity as of late I have decided to grant all of you some well earned leave time." With those words a string of reactions occurred: Arcee went wide eyed and a mischievous grin grew on her face; Bulkhead and Wheeljack chest bumped each other; and Bumblebee jumped in a great deal of joy.

"Another moment of your time Autobots." With that, everyone snapped back into character as Optimus spoke up once again. "That said, should anything occur while you are all on leave, Ratchet and I shall inform you and proceed as necessary; dismissed." With that, Jack walked over to Arcee as she locked eyes with him. "So whatcha wanna do Cee?" With that Cee smiled at her lover as she spoke up. "I'd like to show you something I found on patrol recently." With that, Arcee leaned in and claimed Jack in a kiss before swiftly transforming and screeching through the base. "WHOA WAIT UP THERE PARTNER!"

Time 2:45 p.m.

A newly transformed Sergeant Major Michael Grymm begins to awake and finds himself floating in a large container of blue liquid. 'Where am I… how am I…' Michael looked around his confines before a voice cut in through the liquid around him. "Ah, good to see that you've woke up Sergeant Major; I was beginning to worry all my efforts had been for nothing."

Michael looked to the source of the voice and suddenly found himself growling in anger at the sight before him. "M.E.C.H, what have you bastards done to me?" Silas simply grinned at the obviously agitated being before speaking up. "Call me Silas, and you should be thanking us Sergeant Major; we've not only brought you back to life, but given you a stronger, more efficient body as well."

Michael looked down and suddenly went wide eyed… as he saw his metal body that easily dwarfed any human. "You… you turned me into a…" Michael didn't know what to feel in that moment as he suddenly heard Silas speak up. "Transformer, yes we have indeed; no need to thank us." Michael suddenly looked up with angry eyes as he leveled his sight on the arrogant human.

"Thank you? DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE!? I was proud to have died for my country and now you've gone and turned me into some freak show level science fair project!" With that Silas spoke up once again. "True you may look like a transformer version of Frankenstein's Monster, but you're far more than a science fair project; you will be what your friend Colonel Darby failed to be: our greatest weapon yet. For you see, we've been practicing with something we recently discovered and have decided to 'upgrade' your new systems with."

With that, a group of scientists wheeled in a large table with a strange purple crystal sitting on it. Michael suddenly felt a shudder run through his systems as he saw the crystal glow in the lighting of the room. "Keep your filthy little hands off of me or I swear I will tear you all limb from limb!" Silas suddenly grinned even wider at the former human as he spoke up in a taunting voice.

"You wouldn't do that, of that I am certain. You don't kill other humans without orders Sergeant Major." With that, Michael smirked as he spoke up once again. "That maybe true in any other situation Si… but from what I've seen, you and your little organization are officially domestic terrorists on American soil."

With those words, the smile on Silas face fell as he turned to the purple crystal. "Maybe so, but once we've made a few more modifications, you'll have no choice but to fight for me." Michael suddenly saw the scientists break a shard off of the crystal and place it in a machine connected to the container he was currently in.

Michael suddenly watched as the liquid in his tank turned the same color as the crystal and an icy pain began to run through his body. "AAAARGH, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME!?" Silas smiled wickedly at Michael before speaking up. "Ensuring that the same mistake that happened with Jack Darby does not happen here."

Michael suddenly curled in as he felt a surge of energy suddenly run through his body that was unlike anything he'd ever felt. 'What is this… I feel…powerful..' In that moment, Michael went silent as his thoughts began to swirl within his psyche. This did not sit well with Silas as he looked curiously at the Transformer before him.

"Status, what's going on with him?" Silas looked over to his troops that were monitoring Michael's brain waves as the lead man spoke up. "I'm not sure sir, his brain wave bottomed out for a minute and now it's off the charts. I'm not sure what's going on." Silas looked at his newest experiment with curiosity in his eyes before he heard Michael speak up.

"Do you know what it is that you failed to realize about both me and Jack…Silas?" With those words Silas took a step forward as he looked at the former human. "Do tell." With those two words, Michael opened his eyes… as they glow a deep purple and he smirked, showing off two serrated upper canines as he spoke.

"What you failed to realize… as that we are tools… to no one!" And with those words Silas took a small step back as he heard a shout of surprise. "Sir, the systems are shutting down, they're not responding!" Silas looked back to Michael to see him slam his head against the glass of his container, causing a large crack to appear and begin to spider web across the entire container.

"No, not again!" Silas words did not stop Michael as the glass shattered and the newborn transformer landed on the floor on his feet as he smirked at Silas and his troops. "You've had your kicks, now I'm going to have mine." With those words, Michael slapped three troops across the room and into a group of their comrades.

"This can't be happening!" Silas shouted in rage as his plans once again fell into chaos. Michael did not care as he ran down a large hall and into the garage area of the base. 'Can't leave them with vehicles to follow me in now can I?' With that, Michael demolished the entire garage and ran out into the desert to see that it was now night time.

'Better find a place to hide out for the night.' Michael looked around and saw in the far distance a town. 'Looks like it's about seven miles out.' With that, Michael wasted no time in running as fast as he could towards the town lights. It took him about forty-five minutes to reach the outskirts of the town as he began to sneak through the area while sticking to the shadows to avoid detection.

Michael stopped under a large tree as he looked around. 'Think, there's gotta be some way to hide…' As if by some miracle, Michael looked across the street and saw a car lot filled with a wide variety of vehicles. "Of course! The Autobots can hide in plain sight as vehicles. With that, Michael ran into the lot as he began to look for an alt-mode.

'Let's see here… there's gotta be… YES!' Michael looked down with a wide grin at the car before him: a matt grey 1969 El Camino with black highlights. 'Now how the hell do I scan this thing.' As if on cue, a pair of beams shot out of Michaels eyes and scanned over the vehicle. As the lights stopped Michael thought to himself on how transform and caused himself to transform into his vehicle form.

With that Michael drove off through the town and out into the desert. "I'll head for Jasper, it can't be too far away." With that, Michael drove on and soon reached the town he knew so well. He slowed and turned off his headlights as he pulled into a back alley and silently transformed. Michael looked down and froze as he caught sight of his face as it was now.

'Damn it… I really do look like a freak now…' Across Michael's face were a set of deep scars that cut deep into him. He turned his head slightly to see part of the back of his head… only to lower his eyes in pain as he saw that much of his head was scarred and marked by battle damage and medical cuts. 'As if I don't have self-esteem issues…'

Michael looked up slightly and once again froze as he saw a large black tarp over a dumpster. 'That helps.. now for something to hold it to me…' Michael grabbed the tarp and began to walk slowly down the alley before stopping over a large pile of steel link chains. Michael proceeded to take the chains in one hand and the tarp in the other before, once again, he did so, the tarp covered the bed of his vehicle form while the chain rapped over the tarp in a fashion similar to a stitching pattern as it connected under his chassis and inside his frame. "It's pretty rough looking, but it'll do." With that, Michael shut off his engine and entered stasis for the night.

Well well well. Now Mikey is a cybertronian too. Things just keep getting interesting thanks to M.E.C.H huh? Anywho, back to despising Silas and his croneys. Now when I added the tarp and chains to Michael, I did kind of like Megatron's style in Transformers Dark of the Moon. how he uses a tarp as a hood and has that chain that winds through his body. He may be evil but I thought that was an awesome look for him. But enough of that, hope you all liked this chapter. P.S. If you have ideas of your own for this story you'd like to see in this story. Send them to me via Personal Message or through a Review and who knows, those ideas might end up in the story. :) Until next time my friends.


	26. Chapter 26

OOOOOH SCRAP on with the story. Hope everyone enjoys. :)

Ch. 28

Jack followed Arcee up a steep mountain road that was leading high up into one of the mountain ridges that bordered Jasper. As he felt the road under his tires turn into dirt as the black top ended. "Arcee where is it you're leading me exactly?" Jack saw Arcee's mirror adjust slightly as she spoke up.

"See for yourself, we're here." With that, Arcee slowed to a stop in front of Jack and they both transformed. Arcee walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down before lying down and looking up at the clear night sky. 'Primus she is…' Jack suddenly looked up and saw for himself how clear the sky overhead was; there were no clouds and the stars seemed to shine brighter than he had ever seen before.

"Wow…" Arcee looked up to see Jack looking up with a glint in his eyes that she knew all too well. 'I knew that'd be his reaction.' Arcee looked back up to the sky before her smile disappeared from her face and she stood up to walk over to Jack. "Jack… we need to talk." With that, Arcee took Jack's hand and led him over to her spot where they both sat down.

"What's up Cee?" Arcee locked eyes with Jack before speaking up as she looked away again. "I've made a bit of a decision… and I wanted you to know about it." Jack heard what sounded like a tone of insecurity in Arcee's voice and scooted closer to her as she spoke up. "Since I've met you… I've been able to let a lot of things go from the war; a lot of bad memories I've been able to put to rest because of you."

Jack looked at his love with curious eyes as she locked eyes with him and paused before speaking. "I've learned something from watching and being with you: revenge doesn't ever heal you, it just turns you into the very thing you've been trying to destroy." Jack suddenly locked eyes with Arcee as his eyes seemed to glaze over a bit as he listened to her.

"Seeing how hearing about Megatron affects you… It's made me realize that I've been letting myself be driven by revenge whenever I meet up with Airachnid." Jack felt a shudder run through him at the thought of the last time Arcee went after her nemesis, and how it had almost led to her being killed by the Decepticons.

"I don't ever want to worry about you like you've had to worry about me Jack. I know you're a capable fighter, but if you wind up meeting Megatron and your emotions get the better of you like me with Airachnid…" Jack understood Arcee's fear but was still a bit confused at her reasoning for bringing him here.

"Arcee, I understand that but what exactly are you trying to say?" Arcee looked away for a second before locking eyes with Jack and taking his hand. "I'm putting Airachnid behind me; I'm letting go of what happened in the past so I can have a future…and I want that future to be with you." Jack went wide eyed at what he just heard; never in his life did he believe that he would hear something like that come from Arcee.

"Wow… but why are you telling me this here?" Arcee suddenly scooted a bit closer to Jack before looking him in the eyes as she spoke up. "Jack, I want a future with you… but if we're gonna really commit to each other, it has to be on even terms; you've gotta let the past be the past." Jack suddenly froze for a moment as he realized what it was that she was telling him.

'She wants me to let go of my grudge against Megatron….' Jack stood for a moment and edged over slightly towards the cliff and looked out at the horizon for a moment as the moon shined over the Nevada desert. Arcee looked at Jack for a moment before fear began to set in that he couldn't do what she had asked, or worse that he didn't want as serious a relationship as she had thought.

At that thought Arcee's head fell and her eyes closed until she suddenly felt a hand lifting her head. As she opened her eyes, she saw Jack looking at her with firm and yet still soft, eyes as he spoke to her. "I'll do it… for you and no one else, you've saved my life and you've been more than I ever could've hoped for Cee, the least I can do is see that you're trying to protect me again."

In that moment, Arcee felt like she was on the verge of tears as she heard what Jack had just said. "So, is that a yes I'm hearing...?" In that next second, Arcee felt Jack's lips against hers for a moment before he pulled away and took her hand as he spoke. "It's a yes partner." Arcee felt a smile grow on her face until she saw a light glow appear between her and Jack.

They both looked down and went wide eyed as they saw a blue glow emanating from each others' spark chambers as they held hands. In that moment they locked eyes with each other as the same thought went through their heads. 'This means…' "Arcee… we can…" Arcee didn't allow Jack to finish as she captured his lips with her own as the final word went through her head.

'Spark bond…we can do it.' Jack pulled away for a moment as he locked eyes with Arcee before speaking up. "Are you sure you want this with me Arcee? It could be any other Autobot but I just want you to be sure." Arcee looked into Jack's eyes with unrivaled surety as she spoke up. "I don't want anyone else Jack."

And with those words, Jack claimed Arcee's lips… as they finally spark bonded. The light between them grew even brighter as they held each other. Arcee flipped the two of them so that she was on top of Jack as they locked hands with each other. Arcee felt her armor over her center begin to retract along with Jack's.

A skillful hand took hold of Jack's member and let it into her core as she moaned out in bliss and happiness at the connection they shared now. 'Finally, after so long…. I feel… whole.' Arcee was not the only one thinking this as Jack lay on his back and looked up at the Navy blue beauty over him. 'Primus… I don't know what to think.' This didn't stop Jack though as instinct took them both as they claimed each other in body and spark.

Back in Jasper:

The sun was just starting to rise as Michael woke up. 'For being a giant hunk of metal now that wasn't a bad night of sleep.' With that, Michael started his engine as he drove out into the streets of Jasper and out into the desert. 'Okay think Grymm; you have a lot more power now and M.E.C.H still has their commander and troops…'

With that thought, a single person entered the former human's thoughts… another former human and his current family. 'Jack… Nurse Darby… the Autobots…' With that thought, Michael drove back into town and to a house he was very familiar with. 'She's not here, she could either be at the base or at work…If I go waltzing into the Autobot base, things could turn ugly since I don't have any proof of who I am…wait…' Michael suddenly remembered a memory from his childhood that only one other person knew of. 'It's the only shot I've got…' And with that, Michael began to drive out into the desert.

Aboard the Nemesis:

Megatron looked out at the horizon from his place on the bridge when he heard a single tap from behind him. "What is it Soundwave?" The silent predator's face pulled up a mobile map with a signature on the move… one that Megatron was all too familiar with. "A Dark Energon signature… and it's on the move. You sent Laserbeak yes; what has he discovered?"

With that, Soundwaves face changed to a live feed coming from the smaller drone. "No sign of him being an Autobot but he could still be an enemy. Send the troops to bring him to me; Alive if possible." With that, the silent Decepticon turned away as Megatron looked once more out to the horizon. 'So there is something alive on this planet that has Dark energon in it… this could be very useful.'

Back in the Desert:

Michael drove down the quiet road out in the desert as he suddenly noticed a shadow come over him. As he adjusted his mirrors, he saw a drone flying over him in the air. 'Damn… it doesn't look like one of M.E.C.H's toys but it's still probably nothing good.' As if on cue Michael heard the sound of multiple jet engines approaching.

"Oh that's just perfect." With that, Michael saw a group of purple Jets approaching him from all directions. "Those sure as heck are not military jets… looks like it's time to let the cat out of the bag." With that, Michael floored his breaks as he began to transform. As he grinded to a halt in a kneeling position he pulled his hood over his head as he stood up and clenched his fists.

He watched as the jets transformed and landed in front of him before one stepped forward. "Identify yourself." Michael bared his teeth and snarled as he spoke up. "You first." With that, the troops took a step forward as a helicopter approached and landed before transforming into a black armored, feminine transformer.

"My name is Airachnid; our allegiance lies with Lord Megatron and the Decepticons. Now that we've introduced ourselves, would you mind answering our request?" Michael covered his teeth as he thought for a moment before he snuck a look at the road under him before speaking up. "Call me… Blacktop; my allegiance is to myself. Now why are you all here?"

With that, Airachnid stepped forward slightly as she began to circle Michael as she spoke. "We saw your' signature and we came to investigate and bring you before our master. You can either come quietly or I can bring you before Megatron in pieces." Michael could hear the toying voice the female was speaking in and he showed his teeth once again before widening his stance as a pair of blasters replaced his hands. "I'm not going anywhere so I suggest you get lost while you can still bug out of here." With that, the troops opened fire as Michael began to dodge and shoot at the troops as well. 'Damn… just when I thought I was gonna have a clear shot this happens….'

Oh scrap things are about to get very interesting. Hehehehehehehehe. ;) Anywho, read and review and all that jazz you know about. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon. ROLL OUT!


	27. Chapter 27

Man oh man, after a long relaxing vacation in Branson, Missouri.. it feels good to have some time to update my stories. :) For all my loyal reviewers, followers, and just plain awesome readers, I give you... THE NEXT CHAPTER... IN TRANSFORMERS PRIME: A NEW PURPOSE!

Ch. 28

At the Autobot Base:

"Optimus, I've got multiple Decepticon signals on a road outside of Jasper. And they're circled around something in the road." Ratchet had an uneasy edge in his voice as he spoke while the other Autobots moved around as Optimus spoke up. "Agent Fowler…" With that, the agent looked at the group and spoke up calmly.

"Way ahead of you Prime, I'll have my boys block off all ways leading to the area." With that, Optimus looked at the map and saw a group of hills near the road before looking to his old friend and medic. "Ratchet, activate a ground bridge in the hill area near the road where the Decepticon incursion is."

With that, the Autobots circled around their leader while Jack snuck a look at his partner. Arcee caught this and nodded at her spark mate as she knew his unspoken question. 'Keep your cool and keep your eyes on her if things get out of hand.' With that, the ground bridge opened and Optimus spoke up.

"Autobots, Roll Out!" As the team ran through the bridge, they found themselves on a hillside overlooking the highway. The team moved low over the crest of the hill before their eyes went wide. "Who the frag is the new guy?" Wheeljack had his characteristic skeptical voice in play as he looked at the Decepticons surrounding the unknown bot.

"Whoever he is, we will have to wait and see how things proceed before we can risk entering the altercation." Optimus spoke with a firm voice as he looked at the scene before him. Meanwhile, Jack had his hand in Arcee's as they both had their eyes locked on a black armored femme standing with the group of Decepticons.

"Arcee, you okay?" Jack had a deep tone of concern in his voice as he looked at his spark mate. But as he looked into her eyes, Arcee spoke up. "I'm fine Jack, I told you I let it go." This obviously didn't go unheard by the group as Bulkhead spoke up. "Whoa, Arcee letting go of her grudge with Airachnid; now that I didn't expect." Arcee looked past the group to see Optimus looking at her with a proud smile on his face before the attention of the group was drawn by blaster fire.

In the street:

Michael ran at a single Decepticon before putting a blaster shot through his head and grabbing him around the neck. As he turned he used the dead Decepticon as a shield while putting shot after shot into the other Decepticons around him. As the last Seeker dropped dead, Michael dropped the dead Decepticon in his grip as he spoke up.

"That just leaves me and you." With that, Michael turned to see Airachnid looking on with a face of impression as she spoke up. "I must say you know how to use a blaster, but how are you with close quarters combat?" With that, Michael's hands changed from blasters to a pair of long blades as he took a step towards Airachnid.

"Why you wanna know spider, you wanna dance?" With that, Airachnid smiled at Michael as she activated her spider form before speaking up. "Let's dance big boy." With that, the two began to circle each other. It was quite sudden as Airachnid ran up and began the dance between the two. As the two slammed at each other with their individual blades, Michael found himself suddenly feeling a sense of excitement rising in his stomach as he suddenly spoke up.

"I gotta admit, you know how to use those legs of yours Airachnid." Airachnid suddenly through a slash across Michaels head and through his hood. As the two separated, Airachnid waited as she looked at the turned back of the bot before her. "Well, Blacktop may I see the face of my combatant or do I have to get even more violent?" With that, Michael's head raised and revealed an array of scars. As Michael turned, he suddenly froze as the two locked eyes.

Back on the hillside:

The team watched as they got a look at the mysterious bot's face. "Whoa, and I thought Starscream had some scars on him; this guy looks like he got caught in a plasma bomb." Wheeljack's words were heard by all but one of the Autobots as the bot looked on at the scene before him. 'Why does he feel so familiar?'

Jack couldn't help but feel like he knew this bot all too well. "Optimus, what do we do?" Arcee's words registered in her commanders head as he looked on. "Now that the odds would be in our favor, I suggest we make our presence known." With that, the group looked back ahead and froze as they saw that both the bot and Airachnid were still staring into each others' eyes.

 _"What's going on with them, you'd think they thought of each other as the most interesting bots' in existence now."_ Bumblebee was having similar thoughts as everyone else as they too were confused at why Airachnid of all bots was frozen in her steps. The team was pulled from their thoughts as their commander spoke up.

"Autobots; advance on the objective." With that, the team began to move slowly towards the two bots. The Autobots were able to get far too close for comfort to the two before they stopped a few yards away from both bots. "Airachnid." Optimus' voice pulled the two out of their gazes as they looked at the now present Autobots.

For several tense seconds, the group of bots simply sat there as Airachnid's and Blacktops eyes wandered over the group. When Airachnid suddenly spotted Arcee looking at her with neutral eyes, she felt very confused. It was when Jack suddenly spoke up that everyone's attention was drawn to him.

"Who are you, and where did you learn how to fight like that?" Jack was addressing Blacktop who was staring back at him with cloudy eyes as he was unable to speak for a moment. It was when Blacktop began to walk towards Jack that some of the Autobots clenched their fists only to pause as Optimus held up his hand.

Blacktop walked up before stopping right in front of Jack and locking eyes with him as he spoke softly. "Jack…. It's me." Jack suddenly stepped back as his eyes went wide with shock as he recognized the voice he just heard. How could he not; they were as close as two boys could get to being brothers.

"Mi…Michael…no... NO! You died; I saw your coffin at Fort Bragg!" Jack suddenly felt a firm hand on his hand as he saw the bot before him look right into his eyes. "Jack… it is me!" Jack was still hard to convince as Jack's hand suddenly turned into his blaster as he leveled it on Blacktops head.

"How do I know this isn't a trick…how do I know you're really him!?" The Autobots along with Airachnid watched as Blacktop stepped forward until the end of Jack's barrel was pressed against Blacktops chest before he spoke up. "Do you remember what happened on October 10th of 2010?" Jack suddenly dropped his hand back to his side as his eyes went even wider as he now knew for sure… that this was indeed… his best friend.

'Mike… Primus… it's really him…' In that next second, drilling could be heard and the team looked just in time to see Airachnid's body disappear down the hole she drilled. The team suddenly returned their attention back to Michael as Optimus spoke up. "Ratchet, activate the ground bridge; we have a guest."

With that, the team looked as a ground bridge activated and they began to walk through. As the team entered the base, Ratchet quickly caught sight of Michael before he spoke up. "So who have we brought into the base this time?" But when Ratchet saw how Jack was reacting, he looked to Michael as he spoke up. "Maybe you remember my voice Ratchet?" With that, Ratchet's eyes too went wide as he realized who he was talking to.

Aboard the Nemesis:

Airachnid walked through the corridors of the Nemesis as she made her way to the bridge while thinking about the events that had occurred earlier. 'What happened between me and Blacktop?' In the next moment Airachnid hunched over as she suddenly saw a flash of light before a memory appeared in her mind.

A picture of a boy lying on the ground in an alley way as a group of humans kicked him while he was on the ground. The boy looked familiar, almost like Airachnid had seen him before. She felt a sense of something she never felt for anything before: sympathy. She knew what it felt like to be beaten down while you were defenseless.

The image suddenly flashed into a battleground, Airachnid looked down and found a human lying at her feet with blood pooling under him as he sat up against a wall. She looked on as she saw him raise a human blaster and begin to fire at something. But as a volley of shots entered his body, he fell limp as the blaster fell from his hands.

In that moment, Airachnid suddenly felt a shot of pain rip through her spark at the sight of the human falling dead. The next image chilled her spark as she saw the same human floating in a tube of energon as life returned to his eyes and his body began to change into that of a transformer; a transformer that Airachnid had met not hours ago.

'What is happening to me?' As Airachnid straightened her body and walked into the bridge her thoughts cleared as she walked up behind Megatron and spoke. "My liege, I discovered that the anomaly was a cybertronian by the name of Blacktop. However, Blacktop killed off the seekers that escorted me, I would've brought him to you had Optimus and hi"

With that, Megatron turned and slammed his fist into Airachnid's face, causing her to fly through the air and land on her back as she saw Megatron sneering at her. "I have no interest in your failure Airachnid, and considering you allowed an entire squadron of my troops to be killed, it would stand that you owe me a spark."

0_0 Oh snap... Megatron is ticked and Airachnid is now in his crosshairs. Not only that, but the Autobots now know who Blacktop really is. What will happen next? I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible so you can find out. ;)


	28. Chapter 28

I HAVE COME BACK TO LIFE SUCKAAAAAAAS! Lol. Sorry for the super late update guys, college has been keeping me busier then a fiddlers elbow. Anywho, It's liable to take a long period of time for me to do my updates from here on out so just keep an eye out. Other than that, ON TO THE STORY!

Ch. 28

Michael sat on one of the medical berths in the med bay of the Autobot base as he had been explaining what had happened to him. "When I woke up, I was floating in some big tube in a M.E.C.H base. I saw your old buddy Silas there and he told me that he basically used the old Frankenstein trick to bring me back to life…" Jack heard this and was having a hard time controlling his temper at what Silas had done to his best friend.

It wasn't until Bulkhead spoke up that he finally calmed down. "Here's what I don't get, why didn't we pick up your signature when the Decepticons showed up?" "Maybe it has something to do with the stuff that Silas had pumped into me."

Optimus looked at Michael with stern eyes as he spoke up. "Michael, what was it that Silas put inside you?" "All I remember seeing is a group of doctors pulling in a big tray with some big purple glowing crystal on it." That suddenly put the entire group on edge as Ratchet spoke up in an eerie voice.

"Michael, I need to take an energon sample from you to test for something; I fear M.E.C.H may have gotten their hands on something very powerful and very deadly." With that, Michael nodded as Ratchet stuck his syringe into his arm and began to draw energon. But what the group saw caused them to go wide eyed in shock and caused Optimus to speak up.

"Dark Energon, this is worse than I could have imagined." Michael noticed the concern emanating from the group and was suddenly a bit worried about what had just come out of his arm. "What exactly is 'Dark Energon' if you don't mind my asking?" The group looked to Ratchet and Optimus as the latter spoke up.

"To put it simply Cybertronians, including you and Jack, normally run off Energon, a blue energy source that is normally found in a crystallized form. Dark Energon is deadly in that it can be used as a weapon unlike any other. Megatron has already used it before; he raised an army of undead Terracons here on Earth." "Wait a minute; you're telling me that the stuff they pumped into me has the power to revive the dead!?" Michael's quick rise in volume obviously caught the group off guard as everyone looked at him before Optimus spoke up.

"Indeed it does, and from what we have seen, Silas injected you with enough Dark Energon that you're body is converting any energon it has inside it into its darker counterpart." This obviously hit Michael hard as his head fell low. Jack saw this and walked over to his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking up.

"Hey, don't worry about it Mike… I'm just glad to have my brother back." This brought a smile to Michaels face as he looked at the group around him as Optimus spoke up. "Jack is correct Sergeant Major, and as you are a friend to Jack, I would like to offer you a place among the Autobots." This put a look of shock on Michael's face that was soon replaced with gratitude as he spoke up.

"I'd be honored Optimus." With that, Michael stood from the berth as Jack spoke up. "I think it's time we all took a drive as a team. It's a nice day Optimus, plus I think it'd be a good idea to get outside the base and just drive together." With those words, Optimus seemed to think the proposition over before looking up and nodding.

"Very well, we will travel around the roads inside and outside of Jasper for a time. Autobots, Roll Out!" With that, the entire team, including Ratchet, Miko and Raf, drove out of the base. The team drove down the roads of Jasper before Jack took the lead and led them to his old house. As they pulled to a stop in front, Jack honked his horn. A few seconds later, June walked out of the house wearing a pair of blue jeans and a short sleeve t-shirt.

"Jack, what are you and the bots doing here?" "Hop in the El Camino mom. It's time I reintroduced you to a friend of mine." With that, June looked at the El Camino skeptically before hopping inside. As she sat inside, she heard a voice speak up. "Well if it ain't my other momma, how've you been Mrs. Darby?"

Junes eyes went wide as she recognized the voice coming from the car she was in. "Michael!?" "The one and only." The group could hear the undertone that meant Michael would be smirking if he were in robot form. "It's a long story, let's just enjoy the ride." With that, the team drove back out to the outskirts of town.

As the team was driving, Michael took up the front spot as he was now keeping his eyes open as the occasional car passed by. Michael's eyes could've gone wide as he saw a certain car coming right towards them in the oncoming traffic lane. "Oh Jacky, I think it's time for me to get a little upgrade." Jack was confused as to what his friend meant until he saw Michael scan the car passing them and begin to change.

As he changed, the grey paint began to fleck away along with the body of the El Camino; and in place of the grey was a majority of matte black with fire engine red detailing. The tailpipes fell away and were replaced with side exhausts. As the chrome grill came into place with a silver Autobot emblem in the center, a large engine header emerged from the center of the hood as flames blew out of the side exhausts. As the wheels took on a metallic black color and the engine revved roughly, gone was the body of the El Camino… and in its place was the body of a 1970 Dodge Charger.

"OOOOH YEAH! BLACK TOP'S STYLIN' AND PROFILIN' NOW!" As Jack pulled up next to Michael he commented in his own way. "I should've known you would pick another classic muscle car. But I gotta say bro, you look pretty fraggin' bad ass. And how did I know that you were gonna use Black and Red as your color scheme?"

"Hey, I might be a robot now, but I am still a Marine at heart… or spark, whatever!" This got snickers from many of the Autobots as the team began to make their way back to the base. As the team pulled into the team began to transform just as Michael skidded to a stop in the center of the group. As June stepped out of Michael, he began to transform… giving the team a view of the Marine Corps style paint scheme of his armor.

"Dang bro, you look like you're wearing your class A…" As Michael stood, he realized that engraved on his shoulders in the metallic silver parts… were Marine Corps Sergeant Major Ranks. "Oorah to Ashes." As Michael said this, an alarm went off and caught the attention of the entire group. "Sounds like the parties over ladies." With that, Ratchet went over to the computer and began a scan of the area, until he saw a group of signatures in the canyons.

"Optimus, it's the canyons again." "Autobots, Roll Out!" With that, the team ran through the recently opened groundbridge. As the team entered the canyon, they suddenly saw a group of Decepticons giving chase to… "Wait a minute, I've seen that Helicopter before." Michael's voice spoke up before being answered by an equally perplexed Bulkhead. "It's Airachnid, but what the heck are the cons chasing her for?"

Arcee had a puzzled tone in her voice as she and the team suddenly saw Airachnid take a missile to the tail and begin to fall to the ground. The team watched in silence as they saw Airachnid transform and land in a bleeding pile. The Autobots were a mix of emotions in that moment, namely confusion and shock at seeing Airachnid in such a state. But for Michael, only one thing was going through his mind… anger.

The next few seconds were encompassed by the team seeing Michael running at Airachnid with rage in his eyes. As the Decepticons landed around the wounded spiderbot, they took aim only to here an engine revving. As the group turned to the noise, an unfortunate Vehicon was flattened by a black and red 1970 Dodge Charger. The vehicle began to transform and Airachnid looked up to see a familiar face. 'Blacktop… but why is he protecting me?'

With that, a sword and blaster erupted from Michael's arms as he ran at the Decepticons in a frenzy of anger. The Autobots and Airachnid could do nothing but watch in awe as, one by one, the Decepticons fell dead. 'That takes care of them, now to check on… wait a minute…' Michael realized that he was trying to protect someone who was recently one of his enemies.

But in the next second, he felt as though that very word cut into him at describing Airachnid in such a way. As he turned around, he saw Airachnid look up at him with wide eyes before she fell to the ground unconscious with a single thought. 'He saved me….'

AAAAAWE SCRAP! Comment, Review, you know the drill. Roll Out! :)


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